Date.prototype.getTime

[P T Withington]

On 2006-06-27, at 21:34 EDT, Jeff Walden wrote:

> P T Withington wrote:
>> I am wondering if the new standard should encourage implementors  
>> to return a value with as much precision as the underlying  
>> hardware/OS permits?
>
> I would assume this doesn't really need to be specified and will be  
> assumed by implementers (at worst in response to user demands) as  
> much as is practical, but then again, I've never spec'd or  
> implemented a programming language.

In my experience, 'advice to the implementor' is important.  It's non- 
binding, but it's useful to record.

>> Or, is there already a better, more accurate way to measure  
>> elapsed time?  Or, should there be?
>
> I was under the impression that the following was more idiomatic,  
> but I could be wrong:
>
>> var before = Date.now();
>> doStuff();
>> var after = Date.now();
>> var elapsedTime = after - before;

Date.now() makes lots of sense!  Why can't I find that in ECMA 262-3  
spec?  Is this a Mozilla extension?  I don't see it in ActionScript  
either...