wall time

English

Noun

wall time (uncountable)

1. (computing) The actual time of day, as would be seen on a wall clock; contrasted with the (possibly inaccurate) time according to a computer system.
2. (computing) The actual amount of time taken from the start to the end of an operation, as opposed to CPU time, which only includes the periods of time during which the CPU was processing instructions.

Coordinate terms

• CPU time
• user time