How do computers figure out how long a certain operation will take? i.e. Copying a directory of files or performing a system update.
In: Technology
It varies a bit, but the simplest case: Let’s say you want to copy one big file. You record how big it is, you record the time you start, then every so often you check how much you’ve done and how long it’s been. Eg, I’ve done 10% of the work, it’s been 5 seconds since I started, so the total time is probably gonna be about 50s (or 45s remaining).
You might do things like only take into account the average speed over the last n seconds, or fudge the numbers in some way you discovered to make them look nicer (ie avoid the time remaining timer going up), or other tricks. But the basics will still be compare how much you’ve done to how much you have left to do.
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