Any problems with *lots* of attributes?

[Frank Millman]

Hi all

This is a question about the performance trade-off between two methods
of storing data. One method is to create a separate attribute for each
piece of data, and get/set the value according to its name. Another
method is to create a list, and get/set the value according to its
position in the list. In my limited tests, the first method is
quicker.

My application is database-intensive. I have a Table class which is
instantiated for each table that is opened. I have a Column class
which is instantiated for each column in each table. The number of
attributes for each Column can be up to about 20. It is possible for
the number of column instances at any one time to run into the
hundreds, therefore the total number of attributes can run into
thousands.

At the moment I store the data for each column in a single Column
attribute, as a list. If I switch to creating a separate Column
attribute for each piece of data, is there a danger that the number of
attributes may eventually reach a point where any performance gain is
negated or even reversed?

Any advice will be much appreciated.

Frank Millman