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classification
Title: Speed-up in array_repeat()
Type: performance Stage: patch review
Components: Extension Modules Versions: Python 3.1, Python 3.2, Python 2.7
process
Status: closed Resolution: accepted
Dependencies: Superseder:
Assigned To: georg.brandl Nosy List: BreamoreBoy, belopolsky, georg.brandl, josiahcarlson, larry, lskovlund, rhettinger, stutzbach
Priority: normal Keywords: easy, patch

Created on 2006-10-02 13:30 by lskovlund, last changed 2022-04-11 14:56 by admin. This issue is now closed.

Files
File name Uploaded Description Edit
arraymodule.diff lskovlund, 2006-10-02 13:30 Patch against current SVN
issue1569291.diff belopolsky, 2008-03-24 19:33 Patch against revision 61850
Messages (15)
msg51182 - (view) Author: Lars Skovlund (lskovlund) Date: 2006-10-02 13:30
Use iterative doubling when extending the old array.
This results in O(log n) calls to memcpy() instead of O(n).
msg51183 - (view) Author: Josiah Carlson (josiahcarlson) * (Python triager) Date: 2006-10-07 16:39
Logged In: YES 
user_id=341410

Have you benchmarked this for repeats found "in the wild" to
establish *observable* speedup for code that already exists?
msg51184 - (view) Author: Lars Skovlund (lskovlund) Date: 2006-10-07 22:12
Logged In: YES 
user_id=263372

I wrote this code for a university project I'm doing myself,
which involves initializing a *very* large array (it's a
remote memory system). It does help there, certainly; for
medium-sized arrays, the improvement would be negligable,
and for small ones it might even be worse.

If you mean, have I benchmarked it with other people's code,
no. I just thought I'd offer it to the community, since it
has certainly helped me.
msg51185 - (view) Author: Raymond Hettinger (rhettinger) * (Python committer) Date: 2006-10-08 00:59
Logged In: YES 
user_id=80475

This patch is basically fine.  Will neaten it up to match 
our source coding conventions and apply it when I get a 
chance.  Py2.6 won't be out for a good while, so there is 
no hurry.
msg51186 - (view) Author: Larry Hastings (larry) * (Python committer) Date: 2006-10-13 08:17
Logged In: YES 
user_id=364875

I'd assumed Python *didn't* double the size when resizing an array because of how much memory that wastes.  May I suggest trying it with a multiplier of 1.5x, and comparing both CPU time and memory consumption?  I find for these things that 1.5x is nearly as fast and wastes far less memory.
msg51187 - (view) Author: Josiah Carlson (josiahcarlson) * (Python triager) Date: 2006-10-13 15:26
Logged In: YES 
user_id=341410

This patch has nothing to do with array resizing.  It has to
do with array initialization.
msg51188 - (view) Author: Raymond Hettinger (rhettinger) * (Python committer) Date: 2007-04-03 02:50
This proposal is basically fine.  The patch should be re-worked to model as closely as possible the code for string_repeat in Objects/stringobject.c (revisions 30616 and 30368 provide the details).  That code is known to work and to have provided a meaningful speed-up.
msg64405 - (view) Author: Raymond Hettinger (rhettinger) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-03-24 09:02
This one is easy if someone wants to take a crack at it.
msg64429 - (view) Author: Alexander Belopolsky (belopolsky) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-03-24 18:42
Looking at stringobject.c:1034:

i = 0;  
if (i < size) {  
        Py_MEMCPY(op->ob_sval, a->ob_sval, Py_SIZE(a));  
        i = Py_SIZE(a);  
}  
while (i < size) {  
        j = (i <= size-i)  ?  i  :  size-i;  
        Py_MEMCPY(op->ob_sval+i, op->ob_sval, j);  
        i += j;  
}  
return (PyObject *) op;

Do I miss something or the first condition "if (i < size)" is
a fancy way to check for size > 0?

Wouldn't it be clearer to write

if (size == 0)
        return (PyObject *) op;
Py_MEMCPY(op->ob_sval, a->ob_sval, Py_SIZE(a)); 
i = Py_SIZE(a);
..
msg64433 - (view) Author: Alexander Belopolsky (belopolsky) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-03-24 19:33
Attached patch (issue1569291.diff) reimplements the optimization by
following Objects/stringobject.c logic as Raymond suggested.

I see two remaining issues which in my view should be addressed separately:

1. There is no check for overflow after the multiplication computing the
size of the resulting array.  Note that while newarrayobject checks that
size*itemsize does not overflow internally, there is no such check for
Py_SIZE(a) * n. A decision needs to be made whether Overflow or NoMemory
error should be raised because currently string_repeat and
newarrayobject treat overflow differently.

2. See msg64429 above.  I think both string and (patched) array codes
can be simplified.
msg64435 - (view) Author: Alexander Belopolsky (belopolsky) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-03-24 19:35
I forgot to mention that I added a unit test to cover the special case
of repeating a single-byte array.
msg68096 - (view) Author: Raymond Hettinger (rhettinger) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-06-12 21:42
Georg, do you want to take it from here.
msg110500 - (view) Author: Mark Lawrence (BreamoreBoy) * Date: 2010-07-16 21:20
There are lots of positive comments on this issue, please can core developers take a bit of time to have a look and say yes or no.
msg110501 - (view) Author: Georg Brandl (georg.brandl) * (Python committer) Date: 2010-07-16 21:21
Uh, this slipped under my radar.  Let's see if I get the chance to look at it at the core sprint next week.
msg123334 - (view) Author: Georg Brandl (georg.brandl) * (Python committer) Date: 2010-12-04 11:02
I changed the patch to look more like unicode_repeat (which addresses Alex' point #2) and committed in r87022.
History
Date User Action Args
2022-04-11 14:56:20adminsetgithub: 44066
2010-12-04 11:02:31georg.brandlsetstatus: open -> closed
resolution: accepted
messages: + msg123334
2010-09-01 21:39:58stutzbachsetnosy: + stutzbach
2010-07-16 21:21:52georg.brandlsetmessages: + msg110501
2010-07-16 21:20:21BreamoreBoysetnosy: + BreamoreBoy

messages: + msg110500
versions: + Python 2.7, Python 3.2, - Python 2.6
2009-05-12 12:46:34ajaksu2setstage: patch review
versions: + Python 3.1
2008-06-12 21:42:08rhettingersetassignee: rhettinger -> georg.brandl
messages: + msg68096
nosy: + georg.brandl
2008-03-24 19:35:06belopolskysetmessages: + msg64435
2008-03-24 19:33:39belopolskysetfiles: + issue1569291.diff
type: performance
messages: + msg64433
keywords: + patch
2008-03-24 18:42:51belopolskysetnosy: + belopolsky
messages: + msg64429
2008-03-24 09:02:39rhettingersetkeywords: + easy, - patch
messages: + msg64405
2006-10-02 13:30:28lskovlundcreate