Adding a Par construct to Python?

[Grant Edwards]

On 2009-05-17, Steven D'Aprano <steve at REMOVE-THIS-cybersource.com.au> wrote:
> On Sun, 17 May 2009 05:05:03 -0700, jeremy wrote:
>
>> From a user point of view I think that adding a 'par' construct to
>> Python for parallel loops would add a lot of power and simplicity, e.g.
>> 
>> par i in list:
>>     updatePartition(i)
>> 
>> There would be no locking and it would be the programmer's
>> responsibility to ensure that the loop was truly parallel and correct.
>
> What does 'par' actually do there?

My reading of the OP is that it tells the interpreter that it
can execute any/all iterations of updatePartion(i) in parallel
(or presumably serially in any order) rather than serially in a
strict sequence.

> Given that it is the programmer's responsibility to ensure
> that updatePartition was actually parallelized, couldn't that
> be written as:
>
> for i in list:
>     updatePartition(i)
>
> and save a keyword?

No, because a "for" loop is defined to execute it's iterations
serially in a specific order.  OTOH, a "par" loop is required
to execute once for each value, but those executions could
happen in parallel or in any order.

At least that's how I understood the OP.

-- 
Grant