Question: What method do you use when you want to get performance data about specific code paths?

Answer: 
Well, I have two code snippets. In [pseudocode](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudocode) they are looking like (it's a simplified version, I'm using [QueryPerformanceFrequency](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms644905%28v=vs.85%29.aspx) actually):

### First snippet:

```
Timer timer = new Timer
timer.Start

```

### Second snippet:

```
timer.Stop
show elapsed time

```

A bit of hot-keys kung fu, and I can say how much time this piece of code stole from my CPU.
The article *Code profiler and optimizations* has lots of information about C++ code profiling and also has a free download link to a program/class that will show you a graphic presentation for different code paths/methods.