Cpython optimization
MRAB
python at mrabarnett.plus.com
Thu Oct 22 11:27:16 EDT 2009
Olof Bjarnason wrote:
[snip]
> A short question after having read through most of this thread, on the
> same subject (time-optimizing CPython):
>
> http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2007-September/098964.html
>
> We are experiencing multi-core processor kernels more and more these
> days. But they are all still connected to the main memory, right?
>
> To me that means, even though some algorithm can be split up into
> several threads that run on different cores of the processor, that any
> algorithm will be memory-speed limited. And memory access is a quite
> common operation for most algorithms.
>
> Then one could ask oneself: what is the point of multiple cores, if
> memory bandwidth is the bottleneck? Specifically, what makes one expect
> any speed gain from parallelizing a sequential algorithm into four
> threads, say, when the memory shuffling is the same speed in both
> scenarios? (Assuming memory access is much slower than ADDs, JMPs and
> such instructions - a quite safe assumption I presume)
>
> [ If every core had it's own primary memory, the situation would be
> different. It would be more like the situation in a distributed/internet
> based system, spread over several computers. One could view each core as
> a separate computer actually ]
>
Don't forget about the on-chip cache! :-)
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