sub countit {
    my ( $tmax, $code ) = @_;

    die usage unless @_;

    if ( not defined $tmax or $tmax == 0 ) {
	$tmax = $default_for;
    } elsif ( $tmax < 0 ) {
	$tmax = -$tmax;
    }

    die "countit($tmax, ...): timelimit cannot be less than $min_for.\n"
	if $tmax < $min_for;

    my ($n, $tc);

    # First find the minimum $n that gives a significant timing.
    for ($n = 1; ; $n *= 2 ) {
	my $td = timeit($n, $code);
	$tc = $td->[1] + $td->[2];
	last if $tc > 0.1;
    }

    my $nmin = $n;

    # Get $n high enough that we can guess the final $n with some accuracy.
    my $tpra = 0.1 * $tmax; # Target/time practice.
    while ( $tc < $tpra ) {
	# The 5% fudge is to keep us from iterating again all
	# that often (this speeds overall responsiveness when $tmax is big
	# and we guess a little low).  This does not noticably affect 
	# accuracy since we're not couting these times.
	$n = int( $tpra * 1.05 * $n / $tc ); # Linear approximation.
	my $td = timeit($n, $code);
	my $new_tc = $td->[1] + $td->[2];
        # Make sure we are making progress.
        $tc = $new_tc > 1.2 * $tc ? $new_tc : 1.2 * $tc;
    }

    # Now, do the 'for real' timing(s), repeating until we exceed
    # the max.
    my $ntot  = 0;
    my $rtot  = 0;
    my $utot  = 0.0;
    my $stot  = 0.0;
    my $cutot = 0.0;
    my $cstot = 0.0;
    my $ttot  = 0.0;

    # The 5% fudge is because $n is often a few % low even for routines
    # with stable times and avoiding extra timeit()s is nice for
    # accuracy's sake.
    $n = int( $n * ( 1.05 * $tmax / $tc ) );

    while () {
	my $td = timeit($n, $code);
	$ntot  += $n;
	$rtot  += $td->[0];
	$utot  += $td->[1];
	$stot  += $td->[2];
	$cutot += $td->[3];
	$cstot += $td->[4];
	$ttot = $utot + $stot;
	last if $ttot >= $tmax;

        $ttot = 0.01 if $ttot < 0.01;
	my $r = $tmax / $ttot - 1; # Linear approximation.
	$n = int( $r * $ntot );
	$n = $nmin if $n < $nmin;
    }

    return bless [ $rtot, $utot, $stot, $cutot, $cstot, $ntot ];
}

# --- Functions implementing high-level time-then-print utilities

sub n_to_for {
    my $n = shift;
    return $n == 0 ? $default_for : $n < 0 ? -$n : undef;
}

$_Usage{timethis} = <<'USAGE';
usage: $result = timethis($time, 'code' );        or
       $result = timethis($time, sub { code } );
USAGE

sub timethis{
    my($n, $code, $title, $style) = @_;
    my($t, $forn);

    die usage unless defined $code and
                     (!ref $code or ref $code eq 'CODE');

    if ( $n > 0 ) {
	croak "non-integer loopcount $n, stopped" if int($n)<$n;
	$t = timeit($n, $code);
	$title = "timethis $n" unless defined $title;
    } else {
	my $fort  = n_to_for( $n );