jiffiestomsecs

Jiffiestomsecs is a term used in computing literature as a concise way to refer to a conversion between jiffies and milliseconds. In this sense, it denotes either a function, macro, or utility that translates a value expressed in jiffies into an equivalent duration in milliseconds. The concept relies on the common timekeeping unit "jiffy," defined as one tick of the system timer interrupt, and on the timer frequency Hz, the number of jiffies produced per second.

To convert, milliseconds = (jiffies × 1000) / Hz. For example, on a system with Hz = 1000, 2500 jiffies equal 2500 ms. On Hz = 250, the same 2500 jiffies equal 10,000 ms (10 s). In practice, many implementations perform integer division, which can drop sub-millisecond precision.

Implementation notes: jiffiestomsecs depends on correct knowledge of Hz, which may vary by kernel configuration or hardware. The conversion is subject to wraparound if jiffies is stored in a fixed-width integer; on 32-bit builds with high Hz, the counter may overflow after days or weeks. Modern systems may use 64-bit counters to mitigate this issue.

Usage and context: jiffiestomsecs is commonly used in performance measurements, timeouts, and scheduling logic where a millisecond granularity is required. It is distinct from higher-precision timers that use nanoseconds, and from absolute clock timestamps. In educational materials, it serves to illustrate the relationship between tick-based and wall-clock time.

See also: jiffy, Hz, timekeeping, kernel timer, jiffies.