Is there a more efficient way of doing this code?

iQuit · 2010-04-27 03:18

Here is a method I created so that I could time stuff, but also be able to reset the timer mid timing if needed. It runs in another cog, and stops that cog when finished.
It also has a time out flag that goes to 1 when the timer is done. This can be monitored within the main object that started the cog.
I'm new to spin, so this took me two hours (should I admit that?). It works, but it seems a little kludgy to me. Any ideas as to how it could be done more efficiently?
clock settings and other stuff were left out for brevity.

VAR
 long TimerStack[noparse][[/noparse]30]   
 long reset_secs, TimeOutFlag

PUB Main    
  
 cognew(Timer(10), @TimerStack) 'call to Timer method with input_secs of 10
.
 check TimeOutFlag  'see if timer has run out
.
 reset_secs := 20   'reset Timer at any time by giving reset_secs a new value, 20 here     
.
.

PUB Timer(input_secs)|t, start_secs

 TimeOutFlag := 0
 reset_secs := input_secs
 start_secs := input_secs
 t := cnt

 repeat while input_secs > 0
  waitcnt(t += clkfreq)
   if reset_secs <> start_secs
    input_secs := reset_secs
    start_secs := reset_secs
  input_secs -= 1       

 TimeOutFlag := 1
 cogstop(cogID)

Dan := thanks

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"She may not be very pretty now, but she was somebody's baby once." Bugs Bunny

Post Edited (iQuit) : 4/27/2010 5:35:38 AM GMT

MagIO2 · 2010-04-27 11:47

It looks like it's not 100% working. If you want to reset the timer to the value it originally had it won't do the reset. Know what I mean?

You start the function with Timer(10). Now you do some stuff for a while and then say: reset_secs := 10 . In this case the timer would not be resetted!

Wanna think about it by yourself? The solution will also lead to a version which needs one variable less.

As far as I know cogstop is not needed. If the function called by cognew ends, the COG is stopped automatically.

iQuit · 2010-04-27 15:14

You are correct on both accounts, I'll look at it and see what I can come up with.
But maybe a clue first?

Dan := thanks

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"She may not be very pretty now, but she was somebody's baby once." Bugs Bunny

Post Edited (iQuit) : 4/27/2010 3:31:56 PM GMT

MagIO2 · 2010-04-27 18:50

I'd do it like parameter passing to PASM code works most times. It does not really make sense to reset the timer to 0, as then you'll end up in a very long running loop. Can you see it? So you can change the if reset_secs <> input_secs to .....

Enough for a hint ;o)

iQuit · 2010-04-28 00:16

Okay. I've changed things up a bit. Decided to make it an object. Sorry MagIO2, but I don't know anything about ASM, so it's got to be spin for now. Maybe I'll pick that
one up later.

I haven't tried this yet, but it looks as though it'll work. I check for zero and negative values coming in. I think that this will work! I'll try this as soon as I have time.

Made some changes; added a run status variable.

{{TimerObject.spin, Ver .1
 Re-setable timer that counts by seconds; Pause, Resume, Reset, Stop and Status calls allow control of the timer from the main object.}}

VAR
 long TimerStack[noparse][[/noparse]50]   
 long input_time, reset_time, TimeOutFlag, reset, pause, TimerID, runStatus

'----------------PUB methods-------------------------
PUB Init
 runStatus := 0  'may not need this at all

PUB Start(input_time)
 if input_time > 0 AND runStatus == 0
  TimerID := cognew(Timer(input_time), @TimerStack)
 else return 0

PUB Reset(reset_time)
 if reset_time > 0 AND runStatus == 1
  reset := 1
 else return 0

PUB Pause
 Pause := 1

PUB Resume
 Pause := 0

PUB Stop
 if runStatus == 1
  runStatus := 0
  TimeOutFlag := 0
  stopcog(TimerID)
 else return 0

PUB Status
 return  TimeOutFlag

'------------------PRI methods-----------------------
PRI Timer(input_time)|t
 runStatus := 1
 TimeOutFlag := 0
 t := cnt
 
 repeat while input_time > 0
  waitcnt(t += clkfreq)
   if reset
    input_time := reset_time
    reset := 0
  repeat while pause
   waitcnt(t += clkfreq)
  input_time -= 1

 TimeOutFlag := 1
 Cleanup
 cogstop(cogID)

PRI Cleanup
 runsStatus := 0
 reset := 0
 pause := 0

Using:

OBJ
Timer : "TimerObject"

Timer.Start(60)

Timer.pause

Timer.Reset(45)
etc. etc.

All criticism welcomed.
Dan == Thanks

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"She may not be very pretty now, but she was somebody's baby once." Bugs Bunny

Post Edited (iQuit) : 4/28/2010 3:55:52 AM GMT

MagIO2 · 2010-04-28 03:42

Bad idea to do a COGSTOP anytime. You will kill your main COG if you call stop without starting before. That's why all code doing a COGNEW looks like that:

TimerID:=cognew(...) + 1

Then you know, if TimerID==0 no timer has been started before. If you want to stop the COG you'd say:

cogstop( TimerID-1 )

Variable reset is not needed ... Your loop looks the same as before, so reset_time == 0 is not valid. So, why not check if reset_time<>0 for takeover of the new time?

Is there a more efficient way of doing this code?

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