The future of Python immutability

Fri Sep 4 23:48:13 EDT 2009

On 5 Sep, 05:12, Steven D'Aprano <st... at REMOVE-THIS-
cybersource.com.au> wrote:
> Is the difference because of mutability versus immutability, or because
> of C code in Numpy versus Matlab code? Are you comparing bananas and
> pears?

It consisted of something like this
import numpy
def D4_Transform(x, s1=None, d1=None, d2=None):
 C1 = 1.7320508075688772
 C2 = 0.4330127018922193
 C3 = -0.066987298107780702
 C4 = 0.51763809020504137
 C5 = 1.9318516525781364
 if d1 == None:
 d1 = numpy.zeros(x.size/2)
 s1 = numpy.zeros(x.size/2)
 d2 = numpy.zeros(x.size/2)
 odd = x[1::2]
 even = x[:-1:2]
 d1[:] = odd[:] - C1*even[:]
 s1[:-1] = even[:-1] + C2*d1[:-1] + C3*d1[1:]
 s1[-1] = even[-1] + C2*d1[-1] + C3*d1[0]
 d2[0] = d1[0] + s1[-1]
 d2[1:] = d1[1:] + s1[:-1]
 even[:] = C5 * s1[:]
 odd[:] = C4 * d2[:]
 if x.size > 2:
 D4_Transform(even,s1[0:even.size/2],
 d1[0:even.size/2],d2[0:even.size/2])
against Matlab:
function x = D4_Transform(x)
 C1 = 1.7320508075688772;
 C2 = 0.4330127018922193;
 C3 = -0.066987298107780702;
 C4 = 0.51763809020504137;
 C5 = 1.9318516525781364;
 s1 = zeros(ceil(size(x)/2));
 d1 = zeros(ceil(size(x)/2));
 d2 = zeros(ceil(size(x)/2));
 odd = x(2:2:end);
 even = x(1:2:end-1);
 d1(:) = odd - C1*even;
 s1(1:end-1) = even(1:end-1) + C2*d1(1:end-1) + C3*d1(2:end);
 s1(end) = even(end) + C2*d1(end) + C3*d1(1);
 d2(1) = d1(1) + s1(end);
 d2(2:end) = d1(2:end) + s1(1:end-1);
 x(1:2:end-1) = C5*s1;
 x(2:2:end) = C4*d2;
 if (length(x) > 2)
 x(1:2:end-1) = D4_Transform(x(1:2:end-1));
 end
I wasn't comparing bananas against pears. Mathworks informed me they
were using my code to investigate why Matlab was showing such slow-
downs. I am not sure what they found out, eventially. I have also
wondered if immutability vs. mutability was the reason, as NumPy
generates temporary arrays. But I have not found a better explanation
either. Anyhow, ~30 seconds for Matlab vs. ~3 seconds for Python is a
major difference. (After I did this test, Matlab has acquired a JIT
compiler which might change the timings. I haven't tested as I don't
have access to it.)
Sturla Molden