How to retrieve a tick? - briefly
Call the platform’s tick‑retrieval function (e.g., GetTick, fetchTick, or an equivalent endpoint) with the desired symbol and time parameters, then read the returned object for the timestamp and price fields. This yields the precise tick data needed for further processing.
How to retrieve a tick? - in detail
Obtaining a tick value requires accessing the system‑provided time source that counts elapsed intervals since a defined epoch. The method varies by platform and language, but the principle remains identical: query the appropriate API and store the result as an integer or floating‑point representation.
In Windows environments the most common source is the system uptime counter. The WinAPI function GetTickCount64() returns the number of milliseconds that have elapsed since the system started. Example in C++:
- Call
ULONGLONG ms = GetTickCount64(); - The value wraps after 49.7 days; use the 64‑bit version to avoid overflow.
For .NET applications the property Environment.TickCount provides a 32‑bit signed integer of milliseconds since boot, while Environment.TickCount64 offers a 64‑bit alternative. Use the latter when long‑running processes are expected.
Unix‑like systems expose a similar metric through the clock_gettime call. Request CLOCK_MONOTONIC to obtain a nanosecond‑resolution monotonic clock that is not affected by system time changes. Sample code in C:
struct timespec ts;
clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &ts);
long long nanoseconds = (long long)ts.tv_sec * 1e9 + ts.tv_nsec;Java provides System.nanoTime() for a high‑resolution monotonic tick, and System.currentTimeMillis() for wall‑clock milliseconds since the Unix epoch. Use nanoTime when measuring elapsed intervals; it does not correspond to an absolute timestamp.
Python’s time module offers two functions:
time.time()– returns seconds since the Unix epoch as a floating‑point number.time.monotonic()– returns a monotonic clock value in fractional seconds, suitable for interval measurement.
When precise timing is required, consider the following checklist:
- Choose a monotonic source to avoid discontinuities caused by manual clock adjustments or NTP sync.
- Prefer 64‑bit representations to prevent overflow in long‑running applications.
- Convert the raw tick to the desired unit (milliseconds, microseconds, nanoseconds) immediately after retrieval to maintain consistency.
- Record the tick value as close as possible to the event of interest to minimize measurement latency.
In embedded systems, hardware timers or real‑time clock registers supply tick counts. Access typically involves reading a memory‑mapped register; ensure the read operation is atomic to avoid corrupted values.
By selecting the appropriate API for the target environment, invoking it directly, and handling the result with proper data types, a developer can reliably fetch the current tick for performance profiling, timeout handling, or time‑based calculations.