time_clock.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
#
# Note
# If you want to run this on your system you
# may have to add more cycles to the inner
# loop or work with a larger amount of data.
# Credit for this code goes to the book
# from Oreilly "Python Standard Library..."

import hashlib
import time

# Data to use to calculate md5 checksums
data = open(__file__, 'rt').read()

for i in range(5):
    h = hashlib.sha1()
    print time.ctime(), ': %0.3f %0.3f' % (time.time(),
                                           time.clock())
    for i in range(300000):
        h.update(data)
    cksum = h.digest()