Python: The Optimization Ladder

Posted by Twirrim 4 days ago

Python: The Optimization Ladder(cemrehancavdar.com)

201 points | 67 commentspage 2

superlopuh 6 hours ago|

Missing Muna[0][1], I'm curious how it would compare on these benchmarks.

[0]: https://www.muna.ai/ [1]: https://docs.muna.ai/predictors/create

LarsDu88 3 hours ago||

I love how in an article about making python faster, the fastest option is to simply write Rust, lol

pjmlp 1 hour ago||

That has been a thing forever, many "Python" libraries, are actually bindings to C, C++ and Fortran.

The culture of calling them "Python" is one reason why JITs are so hard to gain adoption in Python, the problem isn't the dynamism (see Smalltalk, SELF, Ruby,...), rather the culture to rewrite code in C, C++ and Fortran code and still call it Python.

falcor84 3 hours ago||

There's no surprise that Rust is faster to run, but I don't think there are many who would claim that Rust is faster to write.

orochimaaru 2 hours ago||

Maybe with LLM/Code Assistance this effort reduces? Since we're mostly talking mathematics here, you have well defined algorithms that don't need to be "vibed". The codegen, hopefully, is consistent.

threethirtytwo 4 hours ago||

>The usual suspects are the GIL, interpretation, and dynamic typing. All three matter, but none of them is the real story. The real story is that Python is designed to be maximally dynamic -- you can monkey-patch methods at runtime, replace builtins, change a class's inheritance chain while instances exist -- and that design makes it fundamentally hard to optimize.

ok I guess the harder question is. Why isn't python as fast as javascript?

12_throw_away 2 hours ago|

> ok I guess the harder question is. Why isn't python as fast as javascript?

Actually there is a pretty easy answer: worldwide, the amount of javascript being evaluated every day is many orders of magnitude higher than the amount of python. The amount of money available for optimizing it has thus been many orders of magnitude higher as well.

jaharios 4 hours ago||

json.loads is something you don't want to use in a loop if you care for performance at all. Just simple using orjson can give you 3x speed without the need to change anything.

antares0982 3 hours ago|

[dead]

retsibsi 6 hours ago||

A personal opinion: I would much prefer to read the rough, human version of this article than this AI-polished version. I'm interested in the content and the author clearly put thought and effort into it, but I'm constantly thrown out of it by the LLM smell. (I'm also a bit mad that `--` is now on the em dash treadmill and will soon be unusable.)

I'm not just saying this to vent. I honestly wonder if we could eventually move to a norm where people publish two versions of their writing and allow the reader to choose between them. Even when the original is just a set of notes, I would personally choose to make my own way through them.

kelvinjps10 7 hours ago||

Great post saved it for when I need to optimize my python code

zahlman 4 hours ago||

The replacement of emdashes with double hyphens here is almost insulting. A look through the blog history suggests that the author has no issue writing in English normally, and nothing seems really off about the actual findings here (or even the speculation about causes etc.), so I really can't understand the motivation for LLM-generated prose. (The author's usual writing style appears to have some arguable LLM-isms, but they make a lot more sense in context and of course those patterns had to come from somewhere. The overall effect is quite different.)

Edit: it's strange to get downvoted while also getting replies that agree with me and don't seem to object.

(Also, I thought it wasn't supposed to be possible to edit after getting a reply?)

hydrolox 3 hours ago||

Yea while reading, I just didn't understand how you end up LLM writing the article? Clearly, the data and writeup are real. But, was it "edited" with an LLM? It looks closer to ~the entire thing being LLM written. I finished reading because the topic is interesting, but the LLM writing style is difficult to bear.. and I agree with your point that trying to fool us that it's human with `--` is just absurd

adammarples 3 hours ago||

Same problems, same Apple M4 Pro, real numbers.

arlattimore 6 hours ago||

What a great article!

Mawr 5 hours ago||

Shockingly good article — correct identification of the root cause of performance issues being excessive dynamism and ranking of the solutions based on the value/effort ratio. Excellent taste. Will keep this in my back pocket as a quick Python optimization reference.

It's just somewhat unfortunate that I have to question every number and fact presented since the writing was clearly at least somewhat AI-assisted with the author seemingly not being upfront about that at all.

threethirtytwo 3 hours ago|

Being upfront about AI-assistance or no AI-assistance doesn't mean shit. Whether AI was involved is independent of what they state and there's no real way to fully prove otherwise.

skeledrew 4 hours ago|

I must admit that I'm amused by the people who find the writeup useful but are turned off by the AI "smell". And look forward to the day when all valued content reeks of said "smell"; let's see what detractors-for-no-good-reason do then (yes I'm a bit ticked by the attitude).

achierius 4 hours ago||

Isn't this a depressing thought? Regardless of AI, to think that everything we read would come in the same literary style, conveying little of the author, giving no window through which to learn about who they are -- that would be a real loss.

repple 3 hours ago||

Ultimately it’s up to the author to make that explicit choice. I think that AI does and will enhance writing and depth and breadth of analysis one could perform. But, to be trustworthy, people will need to either lay out all cards on the table and/or work on other ways to gain trust over time. Maybe people need to provide some context to communicate what model was used and in which ways. What % of final output is AI vs author. I mean, if I see 100% composed by human author stated somewhere then there’s my cue to at the very least learn a little about the author. Certainly more complexity and discernment for readers. Depressing? In some ways maybe; but I’m kind of optimistic. Imagine what Tolkien could worldbuild armed with AI.. but then it wouldn’t be Tolkien.

zahlman 3 hours ago|||

Why is it amusing?

How can you suppose that this is not a good reason to object, especially days after https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47340079 ?

I find the style so reflexively grating that it's honestly hard for me to imagine others not being bothered by it, let alone being bothered by others being bothered.

Especially since I looked at previous posts on the blog and they didn't have the same problem.

shepherdjerred 3 hours ago|||

The smell makes me suspicious because I don’t know how the author used AI.

If the author wrote a detailed rough draft, had AI edit, reviewed the output thoroughly, and has the domain knowledge to know if the AI is correct, then this could be a useful piece.

I suspect most authors _don’t_ fall in that bucket.

pjmlp 1 hour ago|||

Yeah, while posting how they are using Claude to do something really amazing.

tpoacher 3 hours ago||

"I totally get a kick out of the peeps who find the writeup super helpful yet are totally put off by that distinct "AI smell"—it’s like they can't even! Just imagine when everything we value is woven into a tapestry of that same "smell"—where will all the naysayers retreat to then? It’s a little frustrating, honestly, and I’m just like, come on! Let’s delve into this new era of content and embrace the chaos!"

There, FTFY :D