How to add a timeout to a function in Python
Many attempts have been made in the past to add timeout functionality in Python such that when a specified time limit expired, waiting code could move on. Unfortunately, previous recipes either allowed the running function to continue running and consuming resources or else killed the function using a platform-specific method of thread termination. The purpose of this wiki is to develop a cross-platform answer to this problem that many programmers have had to tackle for various programming projects.