Charles R Harris wrote:
>
> I think Python lists are basically just expanding arrays and pointers
> are cheap. Where you might lose is in creating python objects to put
> in the list and not having ufuncs and the rest of the numpy machinery.
> If you don't need the machinery, lists are probably not a bad way to go.
I am not familiar enough with the kdtree code: if you need to manipulate
core datatypes (float, etc...), I think python lists are a significant
cost, because of pointer chasing in particular. It may or may not apply,
but Stefan used some tricks to avoid using python list and use basic C
structures in some custom code (written in cython), maybe he has
something to say.
I would love having a core C library of containers - there are a few
candidates we could take code from:
- http://github.com/stevedekorte/basekit: used in IO programming
language. Quite a few goodies, from list to trees to sets to portable
code to load dynamically loaded libraries. BSD
- The Apple Core Foundation (I have to check the Apple license is
ok). It is more complex, but is designed with objective-C in mind,
meaning integration with the C python API may be easier (both Obj-C and
Python C API being based on ref counting).
- Another one mentioned by Robert Kern, I forgot the reference.
I hope to make it my main focus for the 1.5 release,
cheers,
David
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