On 2006-12-14 08:45-0800 Alan W. Irwin wrote: > However, > have you tried some speed comparisons for the standard examples? The array > preparation in those examples is done with Numeric which should be much (at > least an order of magnitude) faster than ordinary Python array processing.
This relative speed topic engaged my curiosity so here is the actual comparison between the speed of the C interface, the Yorick interface, and the Python interface for example 8 (which uses quite a few arrays). Note, the same core PLplot library was used in each case so the speed differences are not due to the actual plotting, but instead in the preparation of the arrays and other data that are required for the plots. C: time ./x08c -dev psc -o test.ps real 0m0.487s user 0m0.458s sys 0m0.024s Yorick interface (yplot): time ../yplotl -batch x08.i -dev psc -o x08.ps real 0m0.529s user 0m0.498s sys 0m0.026s Python (with Numeric preparation of arrays that is done in xw08.py): time ./x08 -dev psc -o test.ps real 0m0.766s user 0m0.584s sys 0m0.041s So yPlot and C have a modest speed advantage over Python/Numeric for this test case, but nothing spectacular. Thus, if you already like the Python language for other reasons (like many scientists do), there is no need to move to something else just to process numerical arrays. Note, Python/Numeric was designed by those who were familiar with Yorick (which was designed in the same institution, Lawrence Livermore Labs), and it serves similar scientific high-level language needs. Thus, in many ways it is a successor to Yorick, and, of course, Numeric has now itself been succeeded by the similar NumPy. Note, I plan to switch our PLplot Python examples from Numeric array processing to NumPy array processing as soon as NumPy becomes widely available for the mainstream Linux distros. Even though I have personally switched from using yPlot (The Yorick interface to PLplot) to Python/Numeric for my own research plots, I will continue to try and minimally maintain yPlot for those who continue to use it. Glad to hear yPlot is still working for you, Valery. Alan __________________________ Alan W. Irwin Astronomical research affiliation with Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria (astrowww.phys.uvic.ca). Programming affiliations with the FreeEOS equation-of-state implementation for stellar interiors (freeeos.sf.net); PLplot scientific plotting software package (plplot.org); the Yorick front-end to PLplot (yplot.sf.net); the Loads of Linux Links project (loll.sf.net); and the Linux Brochure Project (lbproject.sf.net). __________________________ Linux-powered Science __________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV _______________________________________________ Plplot-general mailing list Plplot-general@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plplot-general
