[Python-Dev] iterzip()

[Jeremy Hylton]

>>>>> "NS" == Neil Schemenauer <nas@python.ca> writes:

  NS> Jeremy Hylton wrote:
  >> I've noted before that it doesn't make much sense to invoke GC
  >> unless there is at least one deallocation; you can't reclaim
  >> anything if there are no DECREFs.

  NS> It's easy to add a decref counter.  It doesn't seem to help much
  NS> though based on my limited testing.  The standard test suite
  NS> does not trigger it.  I can't get our web application to either.
  NS> Is it worth checking in?  Maybe someone can come up with a
  NS> better trick.

I'm not sure what your trick is, since you've only described it as a
"decref counter."  It may not be what I was thinking of.  Regardless
of whether it is, my idea may not be any good either.

I was imagining a scheme like this:  Count increfs and decrefs.  Set
two thresholds.  A collection occurs when both thresholds are
exceeded.  Perhaps 100 decrefs and 1000 increfs.

  NS> Note that we must take into account generations as well.  If
  NS> threshold0 is low then there are lots of quick collections.
  NS> Setting it larger does not help too much as new objects will
  NS> eventually be examined (unless they are destroyed before the
  NS> next collection).

How does this come into play in the benchmark in question?  It seems
like we should have gotten a lot of quick collections, but it was
still quite slow.

Jeremy