metrics: Synchronous metrics

[zeim839]

This pull-request is based on #27918, which was not accepted because go-ethereum/metrics was being refactored at the time.

It removes concurrent EWMAs and Meters; rates are synchronously computed whenever Update() or Snapshot() are called. We introduce sampling periods to imitate clock ticks: events arriving within a 5s period are accumulated in an 'uncounted' variable, which is used to calculate the EWMA per-second rate once the 5s period elapses.

// NewEWMA constructs a new EWMA with the given alpha and sampling period.
func NewEWMA(alpha float64, period time.Duration) EWMA {
	return &StandardEWMA{alpha: alpha, period: period, ts: time.Now()}
}

// We imitate the current implementation by specifying 5-second clock ticks.
// Updates that arrive within 5s of each other are accumulated, and the EWMA
// is updated once the next 5s interval begins.
func NewEWMA1() EWMA {
        // create an EWMA with a 5-second sampling period.
	return NewEWMA(1-math.Exp(-5.0/60.0/1), 5*time.Second)
}

m := NewEWMA1()
m.Update(10)

// Returns 0 because a whole sampling period has not yet elapsed, the EWMA is
// still accumulating events.
fmt.Println(m.Snapshot().Rate())

for range time.Tick(5 * time.Seconds) {
        // Rate will begin at 10 and then exponentially decline. Rate is only manually
        // updated whenever Snapshot() or Update() is called, no need for a clock.
        fmt.Println(m1.Snapshot().Rate())
}

Consequently, Timer and Meter (which use EWMAs) Stop()'s are removed because they are not handled by a concurrent routine. To maintain consistency, Meter is also modified so that its rateMean is updated only once per 5s (i.e. it changes in tandem with the underlying EWMAs):

// Mark records the occurrence of n events.
func (m *StandardMeter) Mark(n int64) {
	m.mutex.Lock()
	defer m.mutex.Unlock()

	// Synchronize rateMean so that it's only updated after
	// a sampling period elapses.
	if elapsed := time.Since(m.lastMark); elapsed >= 5*time.Second {
		m.lastMark = m.lastMark.Add(elapsed)
		m.count += m.uncounted
		m.uncounted = 0
	}

	m.uncounted += n
	m.a1.Update(n)
	m.a5.Update(n)
	m.a15.Update(n)
}

Testing has also been modified, such that expected EWMA values are calculated by unit tests instead of having to cross-check hardcoded values.

Why?

In the worst case, complexity remains the same and you're computing EWMAs every 5 seconds (but without a separate goroutine).

In the best case, stale EWMAs are garbage collected (you dont have to worry about calling Stop()) and you've saved yourself some processing power.

[s1na]

Closing as stale.