Mathematica - Show timing in output line

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around customizing output in Mathematica to include timing information after each computation step. Participants explore various methods to achieve this, discussing both technical implementations and potential drawbacks.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant inquires about displaying timing information directly in the output without needing to use the Timing function repeatedly.
  • Another participant clarifies that the Timing function returns the time first, followed by the result, and suggests methods to suppress the result if desired.
  • Several participants propose setting the variable $Pre to modify how outputs are displayed, including options to show timing in messages or cell labels.
  • A participant shares a solution that uses a custom function, Timeit, to display timing as a message while still returning the output.
  • Concerns are raised about the Timeit function potentially evaluating expressions twice, leading to incorrect timing information.
  • Another participant suggests a refined version of Timeit that handles output formatting better and retains the timing information without printing Null values.
  • Discussion includes the challenge of maintaining cell labels and timing information when saving and loading notebooks, with suggestions for modifying styles or notebook options to address this issue.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express various methods and preferences for implementing timing in outputs, but there is no consensus on a single best approach. Some methods are debated for their effectiveness and potential issues.

Contextual Notes

Participants note limitations regarding the evaluation of expressions and the handling of output formatting, particularly in relation to the behavior of the Timing function and the persistence of cell labels across sessions.

Hepth
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While I know there exists:

In[1]:= Timing[Integrate[blah]]
Out[1]:= {result,time it took to calculate}

Is there a way to just have the time it took to process a step appear in the Out[1]:= part, or after every step rather than having to use the Timing function and then pull out the index?

If I say Result = Timing[process][[1]] then I get the result but don't see the timing, I'd have to put the Timing[xxx][[2]] after everything, and this is tedious. Can I customize the output lines to include this?
 
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The Timing function actually returns the result in the other order
In[1]:= Timing[Integrate[blah]]
Out[1]:= {time, result}
where time is the process time of the kernel.

If you want to just suppress the result then you could use
In[1]:= Timing[Integrate[blah];]
Out[1]:= {time, Null}

If you don't want to have to type Timing every time, then there's a couple of options.

1) You could set the variable $Pre to
$Pre = Timing
or
$Pre = Timing[#][[1]] & (* just print timing, never the result *)

2) Go to the Option Inspector (Shift-Ctrl-O), Notebook Options > Evaluation Options > EvaluationCompletionAction and choose either ShowTiming and/or AddTimeStamp.
ShowTiming only shows the timing in the StatusArea -- it's not permanent.

3) What you really wanted was to change the CellLabels for Output cells. I'm not sure how to do this. I think that this is neither a Notebook option nor a StyleSheet option. It must be in another configuration location. (nb you can turn off the In/Out labels in the Preferences). Maybe using $Pre and $Post you could hack a way of modifying the Output CellLabel as it's generated. Look at the example in the CellLabel documentation.

I hope something there helps!
 
Thanks! Screwing around with it I did:

Clear[$Pre];
Clear[$Post];
Clear[$Pre];
Clear[$Post];
Evaluation::Timing = "Process took `1` seconds to complete.";
$Pre = Timing;
$Post = (Message[Evaluation::Timing, #[[1]]]; #[[2]]) &;

(The first things are just from debugging and having to clear stuff up)

This makes a message after everything you output with the time it took to run. Now I just add this to the initialization stuff I have in every notebook and I'm good to go!

Thanks for the ideas.
 
actually, while that works it gets real ugly later. I just made instead:

Evaluation::Timing = "Process took `1` seconds to complete.";
Timeit[x_] := (Message[Evaluation::Timing, Timing[x][[1]]]; Timing[x][[2]])

To use instead of Timing, this puts the time it took into a message while still giving me my output, though I wonder if it is evaluating twice...
 
I don't think that your Timeit is working.
The inside expression gets evaluated before Timeit is called - so it always say that the time taken is 0.

Evaluation::Timing = "Process took `1` seconds to complete.";
Timeit[x_] := With[{t = Timing[x]}, (Message[Evaluation::Timing, t[[1]]]; t[[2]])]
SetAttributes[Timeit, HoldAll]
$Pre = Timeit;

This seems to work like a charm. Although I'd still like to have a way of using the CellLabel option rather than using a Message.
 
I think I got it, but still working out some formatting stuff:

Code:
Timeit[x_] :=  With[{t = Timing[x]},   CellPrint[   ExpressionCell[StandardForm[t[[2]]], "Output", CellLabel -> StringJoin["(", ToString[t[[1]]], ")", "Out[", ToString[$Line], "]:="]]]]
SetAttributes[Timeit, HoldAll]
$Pre = Timeit;

Then if you run :

Integrate[Sin[x] Exp[-x/5] x^2/(1 - 5 x), {x, 43, 434652.532}]

does it work?
 
but if you call the previous result with "%" it's not the output but the full thing... hmm.

\!\(\*
TagBox[
FormBox[
RowBox[{"Cell", "[",
RowBox[{
RowBox[{"BoxData", "[",
RowBox[{"TagBox", "[",
RowBox[{
RowBox[{"FormBox", "[",
RowBox[{
RowBox[{"RowBox", "[",
RowBox[{"{",
RowBox[{
RowBox[{"RowBox", "[",
RowBox[{"{",
RowBox[{"\<\"-\"\>", ",", "\<\"0.0006293585747159831`\"\>"}], "}"}],
"]"}], ",", "\<\"+\"\>", ",",
RowBox[{"RowBox", "[",
RowBox[{"{",
RowBox[{"\<\"0.`\"\>", ",", "\<\" \"\>",
",", "\<\"\[ImaginaryI]\"\>"}], "}"}], "]"}]}],
"}"}], "]"}], ",", "StandardForm"}], "]"}], ",",
"StandardForm", ",",
RowBox[{"Editable", "->", "True"}]}], "]"}], "]"}],
",", "\<\"Output\"\>", ",",
RowBox[{"CellLabel", "->", "\<\"(7.02)Out[4]:=\"\>"}]}], "]"}],
StandardForm],
StandardForm,
Editable->True]\)
 
Nice work!
OK... this is getting a bit hackish.
But if you use the following then % (Out) works ok and you don't get Null's being printed when there is not meant to be an output.

Code:
Unprotect[Out];
SetAttributes[Timeit, HoldAll]
Timeit[x_] := With[{t = Timing[x]}, If[t[[2]] === Null, Null,
   CellPrint[
    ExpressionCell[t[[2]], "Output", 
     CellLabel -> 
      StringJoin["(", ToString[t[[1]]], ")", "Out[", ToString[$Line], 
       "]:="]]];
   Out[$Line] = t[[2]];]]
$Pre = Timeit;

One more thing... these CellLabels and thus Timings are lost when you Save then Load the notebook.
You can fix this by modifying the StyleSheet (copy the Output style from Core.nb into the notebook's stylesheet) so that the Output cells now have
Code:
CellLabelAutoDelete->False
Or by setting it as a notebook option
Code:
SetOptions[EvaluationNotebook[], CellLabelAutoDelete -> False]
which is easier, but also affects Input cells - so you don't lose the numbering when you modify them.
 
Last edited:
  • #10
Just for the sake of completeness, here's an updated version that plays nicer with the various $OutputForms:

Code:
SetAttributes[Timeit, HoldAll]
Timeit[x_] := With[{t = Timing[x]}, Module[{out, form},
  If[TrueQ[MemberQ[$OutputForms, Head[t[[2]]]]],
    out = First[t[[2]]]; form = "//" <> ToString[Head[t[[2]]]], 
    out = t[[2]]; form = ""];
  If[out === Null, Null,
    CellPrint[ExpressionCell[t[[2]], "Output",
      CellLabel -> StringJoin["(", ToString[t[[1]]], ")",
        "Out[", ToString[$Line], "]", form, "="]]];
  Unprotect[Out]; Out[$Line] = out; Protect[Out]; out;]];]
$Pre = Timeit;
 

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