optimization question

[Terry Reedy]

"Andrew Koenig" <ark at research.att.com> wrote in message
news:yu99r8h45bac.fsf at europa.research.att.com...
> >> I'd like to take a step back for a moment.  I originally asked a
> >> simple question:
>
> Michael> Which did get answered in amongst all the noise, yes?
>
> Yes.

Actually, I don't think so, not quite completely.

If seq is one of the standard, builtin, Python sequence types (string,
tuple, list), you can count on seq[i:j] being a new, separate object.
That is part of the language definition.  In the context of
comparisons, you can count on it *not* being optimized - it is not a
possibility.

On the other hand...

If seq is a Numerical Python array, then slices are quite different:
they are 'views' of the original object.  No data is copied unless you
explicity so request.   The reason is the one that motivated you:
avoiding sloshing around megabytes of date more than necessary.  I
presume comparisons of arrays and maybe even of an array to a Python
sequence are done in the 'optimized' manner you were hoping for.
Since NP arrays can be arrays of chars or even generic arrays of
Python objects, this might be a solution for you.  For analysis of
large data sets, NP arrays should have other adantages as well
(including access to all the stuff already written for them).

Terry J. Reedy