[Python-Dev] PyBench DictCreation (was Re: Performance compares)

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Jeremy Hylton wrote:
> 
> >>>>> "TP" == Tim Peters <tim@digicool.com> writes:
> 
>   TP> I've got no interest in trying to restore the old behavior.  A
>   TP> compromise may be to boost the minimum size of a non-empty dict
>   TP> from 4 to 8.  As is, the only non-empty dicts that can get away
>   TP> with using the current minimum size of 4 have no more than 2
>   TP> elements.  The question is whether such tiny non-empty dicts are
>   TP> common enough to make everyone else pay for "an extra" resize.
> 
> I also did a profile run on CreateInstances, which has a difference of
> +55.54% on my machine.  It's basically the same story.  The instance
> dictionary is getting resized more often with Python 2.1+ than it did
> with Python 1.5.2.  I wouldn't be surprised if several more tests are
> showing a slowdown with the same cause.
> 
> So boosting the minimum size sounds like a good thing.

FYI, I have a patch which inlines small dictionaries directly
into the type object (rather than usin malloc to allocate
the slot buffer).

I've experimented with the minimal size a lot and found that
setting it to 8 slots gives the bext performance/memory tradeoff.

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
CEO eGenix.com Software GmbH
______________________________________________________________________
Company & Consulting:                           http://www.egenix.com/
Python Software:                        http://www.lemburg.com/python/