code: def getUptime(self):
          
          try:
              fp = open(uptimeFile, 'r')
              line = fp.readline()
              fp.close()
          except:
              raise IOError('Failed reading stats from file: %s' % uptimeFile)
          return float(line.split()[0])
docs: Return system uptime in seconds.
          
          @return: Float that represents uptime in seconds.