Python Process time always returning a huge number even though it runs like normal?

Here is the code.

import time
from multiprocessing import Process, cpu_count

def counter(num):
    count = 0
    while count< num:
        count +=1


def main():
    a = Process(target=counter, args=(100000000,))
    a.start()

    a.join()

    print("finished in", time.perf_counter(), "seconds")





if __name__ ==  '__main__':
    main()

This is the return in the terminal.

finished in 808748.985729608 seconds

The program is completed in around 4 to 5 secs but returns this huge number every time?
Could someone help explain if I Did something wrong or a setting that may need to be changed. It is on a Mac if that matters.

>Solution :

You have to capture a start time and and end time and subtract. The number by itself is meaningless (something like time since the OS booted):

start = time.perf_counter()
a.start()
a.join()
print("finished in", time.perf_counter() - start, "seconds")