Wall Clock

Wall-clock time, or wall time, is the human perception of the passage of time from the start to the completion of a task. In the context of a task being performed on a computer, wall-clock time is a measure of the real time that elapses from start to end, including time that passes due to programmed (artificial) delays or waiting for resources to become available. In other words, it is the difference between the time at which a task finishes and the time at which the task started.

The term is used rather than 'real' time to avoid a naming conflict with real-time systems.