How do computers figure out how long a certain operation will take? i.e. Copying a directory of files or performing a system update.

Question

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

Answer 1

I don’t actually know how it is done in practice, but, if I were a programmer, I’d estimate it as follows:

1) determine file size/update size. Let’s say 100 Mb.
2) determine copy(or install) speed in Mb/s. If you don’t know it, then sample how much data has been copied thus far relative to the size determined in step 1 after a few seconds. Let’s say my copy speed is 10 Mb/s.
3) file size/copy speed=time left to copy. 10 seconds in this case.