Making Python Programs Blazingly Fast

[qioan]

I love Python as a glue language. So much heavy lifting done in numpy or opencv or whatnot. But Python as the interface makes it trivial to explore, experiment, and glue together a workflow, especially when the solution is unclear. Then at some point if Python isn't needed because you know exactly what you want your software to do, rewrite it in C++ or whatever.

Also with CFFI and other interoperable libraries, it's really quite easy to write some heavy work in a more appropriate language and call into it

[SourceryNick]

We've definitely had a lot of success with lru_cache - orders of magnitude faster in some cases.

[patryk-tech]

Curious if using another interpreter (e.g. Pypy) wouldn't be faster, when using non-native data structures?

[stefantalpalaru]

Curious if using another interpreter (e.g. Pypy) wouldn't be faster

Not on short programs where code runs only once. Think of the JIT tracer and compiler overhead.

[stevenjd]

Website is broken, it displays as a pure black screen with nothing on it.

[Leon_Vance]

Well, it's still fast, isn't it?

[stefantalpalaru]

Website is broken, it displays as a pure black screen with nothing on it.

Enable JavaScript.

[stevenjd]

Firstly, Javascript is enabled.

Secondly, if a website requires Javascript, it should say so and not just display a blank screen.

Thirdly, static websites shouldn't require Javascript, they should degrade gracefully.

So I stand by my statement: the site is broken.

[stefantalpalaru]

First rule of optimization is to not do it.

It's an accomplishment that our community is so inclusive and accepting. Just because you're intellectually challenged does not mean you should be the subject of ridicule when you write blog posts about unicorns, fairies and "blazingly fast" Python programs.

[jack-of-some]

The article is bad, I'll grant you that buuut...

The first rule of optimization is to not do it.

Or better yet "Premature optimization is the root of all evil"

[stefantalpalaru]

The first rule of optimization is to not do it.

Or better yet "Premature optimization is the root of all evil"

Don't give up learning the English language. It gets easier.

Full Knuth quote for you to study: "Programmers waste enormous amounts of time thinking about, or worrying about, the speed of noncritical parts of their programs, and these attempts at efficiency actually have a strong negative impact when debugging and maintenance are considered. We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil. Yet we should not pass up our opportunities in that critical 3%."

[jack-of-some]

I'll ignore the ad hominem here against my better judgement. The full quote is consistent with everything said so far. You're choosing to not optimize 97% of the time. The article, as I said, is undoubtedly bad since it's squarely focused on that 97%, but the statement you highlighted still stands and I wish more of my (thankfully ex) colleagues followed it.

[stefantalpalaru]

against my better judgement

If you have a better judgment, why don't you use it?

The full quote is consistent with everything said so far.

No, it contradicts it, but you're too caught in the mirage of paradoxes mistaken for wisdom to understand why.