Performance of Python 2.3 and 2.4

[Michal Kwiatkowski]

Hi!

I was just wondering...

Python 2.3.5 (#2, Mar  6 2006, 10:12:24)
[GCC 4.0.3 20060304 (prerelease) (Debian 4.0.2-10)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import timeit
>>> a = timeit.Timer('2**100000000')
>>> b = timeit.Timer('112233445566778899 * 112233445566778899')
>>> a.timeit(1)
5.3986599445343018
>>> b.timeit()
0.59309601783752441

Python 2.4.2 (#2, Nov 20 2005, 17:04:48)
[GCC 4.0.3 20051111 (prerelease) (Debian 4.0.2-4)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import timeit
>>> a = timeit.Timer('2**100000000')
>>> b = timeit.Timer('112233445566778899 * 112233445566778899')
>>> a.timeit(1)
13.129707813262939
>>> b.timeit()
0.72854804992675781

Why long numbers operations are slower in 2.4?

mk
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