Is it possible for computers to tell time without a built in clock?

Posted by CrazyJugglerDrummer on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by CrazyJugglerDrummer
Published on 2010-04-03T01:56:37Z Indexed on 2010/04/03 2:03 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 424

Filed under:

time

|

curiosity

Computers keep time normally with a built in clock on the motherboard. But out of curiosity, can a computer tell time without this?

I would think not as a computer can only execute instructions. Of course, you could rely on the computer knowing its own processing speed, but that would be an extremely crude hack that would take up way too many clock cycles and be error prone.

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about time

monkey patching time.time() in python

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hello guys, I've an application where, for testing, I need to replace the time.time() call with a specific timestamp, I've done that in the past using ruby (code available here: http://github.com/zemariamm/Back-to-Future/blob/master/back_to_future.rb ) However I do not know how to do this using… >>> More
Get time zone or local time from cell tower (GPRS)

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have been asked to set the system time of a Windows Mobile 6.0 handheld to the "local time." The local time in this case means the current time of the time zone the handheld is physically located in. Is there a way to request the local time from the GPRS cell tower? >>> More
jQuery Time Entry with Time Navigation Keys

as seen on West-Wind - Search for 'West-Wind'
So, how do you display time values in your Web applications? Displaying date AND time values in applications is lot less standardized than date display only. While date input has become fairly universal with various date picker controls available, time entry continues to be a bit of a non-standardized… >>> More
Time Warp

as seen on Geeks with Blogs - Search for 'Geeks with Blogs'
It’s no secret that daylight savings time can wreak havoc on systems that rely heavily on dates. The system I work on is centered around recording dates and times, so naturally my co-workers and I have seen our fair share of date-related bugs. From time to time, however, we come across something that… >>> More
ffmpeg - How to determine if -movflags faststart is enabled? PHP

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
While I am able to encode an mp4 file which I can plan on my local windows machine, I am having trouble encoding files to mp4 which are readable when streaming by safari, etc. After a bit of reading, I believe my issue is that I must move the metadata from the end of the file to the beginning in… >>> More

Related posts about curiosity

6 Interesting Facts About NASA’s Mars Rover ‘Curiosity’

as seen on Tech Dreams - Search for 'Tech Dreams'
Humans quest for exploring the surrounding planets to see whether we can live there or not is taking new shape today. NASA’s Mars probing robot, Curiosity, blasted off today on its 9 months journey to reach Mars and explore it for the possibilities of life there. Scientist says that Curiosity… >>> More
Challenges of Getting to Mars: Curiosity’s Seven Minutes of Terror [Video]

as seen on How to geek - Search for 'How to geek'
Imagine going from the top of the atmosphere to the surface of Mars in seven minutes starting at a speed of 13,000 miles per hour and decelerating to zero. That is the challenge awaiting NASA’s Curiosity Rover when it reaches the red planet in August… Challenges of Getting to Mars: Curiosity’s… >>> More
Curiosity’s Descent to Mars in HD [Video]

as seen on How to geek - Search for 'How to geek'
Thanks to the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) mounted on the fore-port side of Curiosity we’re treated to a high-resolution video of Curiosity’s descent to Mars. The video from MARDI, combined with the video editing of YouTube user DLFitch, yields the above video. He writes: This is a full-resolution… >>> More
Curiosity’s Official Self-Portrait

as seen on How to geek - Search for 'How to geek'
NASA has released a high-resolution self portrait of Curiosity. The photo, a composite of images snapped by the rover’s agile arm and MAHLI camera, shows Curiosity in front of Mount Sharp. From the NASA release: The mosaic shows the rover at “Rocknest,” the spot in Gale Crater… >>> More
How Curiosity Took Its Self Portrait [Video]

as seen on How to geek - Search for 'How to geek'
There was enough confusion among the public as to how exactly the Curiosity Rover was able to photograph itself without the camera arm intruding into the photo that NASA released this video detailing the process. For those readers familiar with photograph blending and stitching using multiple photo… >>> More