fastest table lookup

[Jeff Shannon]

Jeff Shannon wrote:

> Neal D. Becker wrote:
>
>> I need a fairly small lookup table, and I'm wondering which data 
>> python data
>> structure would be fastest.  I could use a list, tuple, dictionary, 
>> numeric
>> array, or maybe plain python array.  The table would be indexed by 
>> simple
>> integers and would be dense (filled).
>>  
>>
>
> Which data structure will be fastest depends to some degree on the 
> exact usage that it's being put to, but in most cases I expect that a 
> dictionary will be the best bet.  IIRC, [...]


So it seems that I *didn't* remember correctly.  Nevermind what I said 
there.  (I suspect I may have been thinking of insertions rather than 
accesses...)

Anyhow, it's still true that the best option depends on the exact 
usage.  Make a test harness that will fairly closely mimic your 
lookup-table usage, and test the performance of each type of data 
structure.  It should be a relatively easy and straightforward experiment...

Jeff Shannon
Technician/Programmer
Credit International.