Are there any list comparison optimizations in Python?

[Marco Antoniotti]

jbperez808 at yahoo.com (Jonathan P.) writes:

> >>> x=[1,2,3]
> >>> y=x
> 
> >>> xlist=[x,1,2,3]
> >>> ylist=[y,1,2,3]
> 
> >>> xlist==ylist
> 
> >>> xlist.remove(x) # these 2 statements not executed one after
> >>> xlist.remove(y) # the other but representing different cases
> >>> ylist.remove(x)
> 
> One of Python's most convenient high-level features is automatic list
> comparison by value and recursively.
> 
> Does it know to optimize the compare if it has already been determined
> that two items share a reference to the same object by not doing a
> value compare on them anymore?
> 
> And will this apply to both the comparison and remove() calls above?

Interesting concept.  In Common Lisp you can program it in the
language.  A first cut/draft could be.

(defun equal* (l1 l2)
  (cond ((eql l1 l2) t)
	((null l1) nil)
	((null l2) nil)
	((equal* (first l1) (first l2))
         (equal* (rest l1) (rest l2)))))

Of course, there is nothing in the ANSI spec that forbids an
implmentor to build EQUAL and EQUALP in this way (actually I assume
this is the way things are built - have not checked though).

Cheers

-- 
Marco Antoniotti ========================================================
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