Python-Dev December 2014

python-dev@python.org

72 participants
37 discussions

by Larry Hastings

Argument Clinic "converters" specify how to convert an individual argument to the function you're defining. Although a converter could theoretically represent any sort of conversion, most of the time they directly represent types like "int" or "double" or "str". Because there's such variety in argument parsing, the converters are customizable with parameters. Many of these are common enough that Argument Clinic suggests some standard names. Examples: "zeroes=True" for strings and buffers means "permit internal \0 characters", and "bitwise=True" for unsigned integers means "copy the bits over, even if there's overflow/underflow, and even if the original is negative". A third example is "nullable=True", which means "also accept None for this parameter". This was originally intended for use with strings (compare the "s" and "z" format units for PyArg_ParseTuple), however it looks like we'll have a use for "nullable ints" in the ongoing Argument Clinic conversion work. Several people have said they found the name "nullable" surprising, suggesting I use another name like "allow_none" or "noneable". I, in turn, find their surprise surprising; "nullable" is a term long associated with exactly this concept. It's used in C# and SQL, and the term even has its own Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullable_type Most amusingly, Vala *used* to have an annotation called "(allow-none)", but they've broken it out into two annotations, "(nullable)" and "(optional)". http://blogs.gnome.org/desrt/2014/05/27/allow-none-is-dead-long-live-nullab… Before you say "the term 'nullable' will confuse end users", let me remind you: this is not user-facing. This is a parameter for an Argument Clinic converter, and will only ever be seen by CPython core developers. A group which I hope is not so easily confused. It's my contention that "nullable" is the correct name. But I've been asked to bring up the topic for discussion, to see if a consensus forms around this or around some other name. Let the bike-shedding begin, //arry/

5 years, 11 months

libffi embedded in CPython

by Maciej Fijalkowski

After reading this http://bugs.python.org/issue23085 and remembering struggling having our own patches into cpython's libffi (but not into libffi itself), I wonder, is there any reason any more for libffi being included in CPython? Cheers, fijal

6 years

Update to PEP 11 to clarify garnering platform support

by Brett Cannon

Here is some proposed wording. Since it is more of a clarification of what it takes to garner support -- which is just a new section -- rather than a complete rewrite I'm including just the diff to make it easier to read the changes. *diff -r 49d18bb47ebc pep-0011.txt* *--- a/pep-0011.txt Wed May 14 11:18:22 2014 -0400* *+++ b/pep-0011.txt Fri May 16 13:48:30 2014 -0400* @@ -2,22 +2,21 @@ Title: Removing support for little used platforms Version: $Revision$ Last-Modified: $Date$ -Author: martin(a)v.loewis.de (Martin von Löwis) +Author: Martin von Löwis <martin(a)v.loewis.de>, + Brett Cannon <brett(a)python.org> Status: Active Type: Process Content-Type: text/x-rst Created: 07-Jul-2002 Post-History: 18-Aug-2007 + 16-May-2014 Abstract -------- -This PEP documents operating systems (platforms) which are not -supported in Python anymore. For some of these systems, -supporting code might be still part of Python, but will be removed -in a future release - unless somebody steps forward as a volunteer -to maintain this code. +This PEP documents how an operating system (platform) garners +support in Python as well as documenting past support. Rationale @@ -37,16 +36,53 @@ change to the Python source code will work on all supported platforms. -To reduce this risk, this PEP proposes a procedure to remove code -for platforms with no Python users. +To reduce this risk, this PEP specifies what is required for a +platform to be considered supported by Python as well as providing a +procedure to remove code for platforms with little or no Python +users. +Supporting platforms +-------------------- + +Gaining official platform support requires two things. First, a core +developer needs to volunteer to maintain platform-specific code. This +core developer can either already be a member of the Python +development team or be given contributor rights on the basis of +maintaining platform support (it is at the discretion of the Python +development team to decide if a person is ready to have such rights +even if it is just for supporting a specific platform). + +Second, a stable buildbot must be provided [2]_. This guarantees that +platform support will not be accidentally broken by a Python core +developer who does not have personal access to the platform. For a +buildbot to be considered stable it requires that the machine be +reliably up and functioning (but it is up to the Python core +developers to decide whether to promote a buildbot to being +considered stable). + +This policy does not disqualify supporting other platforms +indirectly. Patches which are not platform-specific but still done to +add platform support will be considered for inclusion. For example, +if platform-independent changes were necessary in the configure +script which was motivated to support a specific platform that would +be accepted. Patches which add platform-specific code such as the +name of a specific platform to the configure script will generally +not be accepted without the platform having official support. + +CPU architecture and compiler support are viewed in a similar manner +as platforms. For example, to consider the ARM architecture supported +a buildbot running on ARM would be required along with support from +the Python development team. In general it is not required to have +a CPU architecture run under every possible platform in order to be +considered supported. Unsupporting platforms ---------------------- -If a certain platform that currently has special code in it is -deemed to be without Python users, a note must be posted in this -PEP that this platform is no longer actively supported. This +If a certain platform that currently has special code in Python is +deemed to be without Python users or lacks proper support from the +Python development team and/or a buildbot, a note must be posted in +this PEP that this platform is no longer actively supported. This note must include: - the name of the system @@ -69,8 +105,8 @@ forward and offer maintenance. -Resupporting platforms ----------------------- +Re-supporting platforms +----------------------- If a user of a platform wants to see this platform supported again, he may volunteer to maintain the platform support. Such an @@ -101,7 +137,7 @@ release is made. Developers of extension modules will generally need to use the same Visual Studio release; they are concerned both with the availability of the versions they need to use, and with keeping -the zoo of versions small. The Python source tree will keep +the zoo of versions small. The Python source tree will keep unmaintained build files for older Visual Studio releases, for which patches will be accepted. Such build files will be removed from the source tree 3 years after the extended support for the compiler has @@ -223,6 +259,7 @@ ---------- .. [1] http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/ +.. [2] http://buildbot.python.org/3.x.stable/ Copyright ---------

6 years, 1 month

ubuntu buildbot

by Benjamin Peterson

Hi David, I noticed you run the "Builder x86 Ubuntu Shared" buildbot. It seems it's running a very old version of Ubuntu. Is there any chance of getting that updated? Regards, Benjamin

6 years, 1 month

PEP 481 - Migrate Some Supporting Repositories to Git and Github

by Donald Stufft

As promised in the "Move selected documentation repos to PSF BitBucket account?" thread I've written up a PEP for moving selected repositories from hg.python.org to Github. You can see this PEP online at: https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0481/ I've also reproduced the PEP below for inline discussion. ----------------------- Abstract ======== This PEP proposes migrating to Git and Github for certain supporting repositories (such as the repository for Python Enhancement Proposals) in a way that is more accessible to new contributors, and easier to manage for core developers. This is offered as an alternative to PEP 474 which aims to achieve the same overall benefits but while continuing to use the Mercurial DVCS and without relying on a commerical entity. In particular this PEP proposes changes to the following repositories: * https://hg.python.org/devguide/ * https://hg.python.org/devinabox/ * https://hg.python.org/peps/ This PEP does not propose any changes to the core development workflow for CPython itself. Rationale ========= As PEP 474 mentions, there are currently a number of repositories hosted on hg.python.org which are not directly used for the development of CPython but instead are supporting or ancillary repositories. These supporting repositories do not typically have complex workflows or often branches at all other than the primary integration branch. This simplicity makes them very good targets for the "Pull Request" workflow that is commonly found on sites like Github. However where PEP 474 wants to continue to use Mercurial and wishes to use an OSS and self-hosted and therefore restricts itself to only those solutions this PEP expands the scope of that to include migrating to Git and using Github. The existing method of contributing to these repositories generally includes generating a patch and either uploading them to bugs.python.org or emailing them to peps(a)python.org. This process is unfriendly towards non-comitter contributors as well as making the process harder than it needs to be for comitters to accept the patches sent by users. In addition to the benefits in the pull request workflow itself, this style of workflow also enables non techincal contributors, especially those who do not know their way around the DVCS of choice, to contribute using the web based editor. On the committer side the Pull Requests enable them to tell, before merging, whether or not a particular Pull Request will break anything. It also enables them to do a simple "push button" merge which does not require them to check out the changes locally. Another such feature that is useful in particular for docs, is the ability to view a "prose" diff. This Github specific feature enables a committer to view a diff of the rendered output which will hide things like reformatting a paragraph and show you what the actual "meat" of the change actually is. Why Git? -------- Looking at the variety of DVCS which are available today it becomes fairly clear that git has gotten the vast mindshare of people who are currently using it. The Open Hub (Previously Ohloh) statistics [#openhub-stats]_ show that currently 37% of the repositories Open Hub is indexing is using git which is second only to SVN (which has 48%) while Mercurial has just 2% of the indexed repositories (beating only bazaar which has 1%). In additon to the Open Hub statistics a look at the top 100 projects on PyPI (ordered by total download counts) shows us that within the Python space itself there is a majority of projects using git: === ========= ========== ====== === ==== Git Mercurial Subversion Bazaar CVS None === ========= ========== ====== === ==== 62 22 7 4 1 1 === ========= ========== ====== === ==== Chosing a DVCS which has the larger mindshare will make it more likely that any particular person who has experience with DVCS at all will be able to meaningfully use the DVCS that we have chosen without having to learn a new tool. In addition to simply making it more likely that any individual will already know how to use git, the number of projects and people using it means that the resources for learning the tool are likely to be more fully fleshed out and when you run into problems the liklihood that someone else had that problem and posted a question and recieved an answer is also far likelier. Thirdly by using a more popular tool you also increase your options for tooling *around* the DVCS itself. Looking at the various options for hosting repositories it's extremely rare to find a hosting solution (whether OSS or commerical) that supports Mercurial but does not support Git, on the flip side there are a number of tools which support Git but do not support Mercurial. Therefore the popularity of git increases the flexibility of our options going into the future for what toolchain these projects use. Also by moving to the more popular DVCS we increase the likelhood that the knowledge that the person has learned in contributing to these support repositories will transfer to projects outside of the immediate CPython project such as to the larger Python community which is primarily using Git hosted on Github. In previous years there was concern about how well supported git was on Windows in comparison to Mercurial. However git has grown to support Windows as a first class citizen. In addition to that, for Windows users who are not well aquanted with the Windows command line there are GUI options as well. On a techincal level git and Mercurial are fairly similar, however the git branching model is signifcantly better than Mercurial "Named Branches" for non-comitter contributors. Mercurial does have a "Bookmarks" extension however this isn't quite as good as git's branching model. All bookmarks live in the same namespace so it requires individual users to ensure that they namespace the branchnames themselves lest the risk collision. It also is an extension which requires new users to first discover they need an extension at all and then figure out what they need to do in order to enable that extension. Since it is an extension it also means that in general support for them outside of Mercurial core is going to be less than 100% in comparison to git where the feature is built in and core to using git at all. Finally users who are not used to Mercurial are unlikely to discover bookmarks on their own, instead they will likely attempt to use Mercurial's "Named Branches" which, given the fact they live "forever", are not often what a project wants their contributors to use. Why Github? ----------- There are a number of software projects or web services which offer functionality similar to that of Github. These range from commerical web services such as a Bitbucket to self-hosted OSS solutions such as Kallithea or Gitlab. This PEP proposes that we move these repositories to Github. There are two primary reasons for selecting Github: Popularity and Quality/Polish. Github is currently the most popular hosted repository hosting according to Alexa where it currently has a global rank of 121. Much like for Git itself by choosing the most popular tool we gain benefits in increasing the likelhood that a new contributor will have already experienced the toolchain, the quality and availablity of the help, more and better tooling being built around it, and the knowledge transfer to other projects. A look again at the top 100 projects by download counts on PyPI shows the following hosting locations: ====== ========= =========== ========= =========== ========== GitHub BitBucket Google Code Launchpad SourceForge Other/Self ====== ========= =========== ========= =========== ========== 62 18 6 4 3 7 ====== ========= =========== ========= =========== ========== In addition to all of those reasons, Github also has the benefit that while many of the options have similar features when you look at them in a feature matrix the Github version of each of those features tend to work better and be far more polished. This is hard to quantify objectively however it is a fairly common sentiment if you go around and ask people who are using these services often. Finally a reason to choose a web service at all over something that is self-hosted is to be able to more efficiently use volunteer time and donated resources. Every additional service hosted on the PSF infrastruture by the PSF infrastructure team further spreads out the amount of time that the volunteers on that team have to spend and uses some chunk of resources that could potentionally be used for something where there is no free or affordable hosted solution available. One concern that people do have with using a hosted service is that there is a lack of control and that at some point in the future the service may no longer be suitable. It is the opinion of this PEP that Github does not currently and has not in the past engaged in any attempts to lock people into their platform and that if at some point in the future Github is no longer suitable for one reason or another than at that point we can look at migrating away from Github onto a different solution. In other words, we'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it. Example: Scientific Python -------------------------- One of the key ideas behind the move to both git and Github is that a feature of a DVCS, the repository hosting, and the workflow used is the social network and size of the community using said tools. We can see this is true by looking at an example from a sub-community of the Python community: The Scientific Python community. They have already migrated most of the key pieces of the SciPy stack onto Github using the Pull Request based workflow starting with IPython and as more projects moved over it became a natural default for new projects. They claim to have seen a great benefit from this move, where it enables casual contributors to easily move between different projects within their sub-community without having to learn a special, bespoke workflow and a different toolchain for each project. They've found that when people can use their limited time on actually contributing instead of learning the different tools and workflows that not only do they contribute more to one project, that they also expand out and contribute to other projects. This move is also attributed to making it commonplace for members of that community to go so far as publishing their research and educational materials on Github as well. This showcases the real power behind moving to a highly popular toolchain and workflow, as each variance introduces yet another hurdle for new and casual contributors to get past and it makes the time spent learning that workflow less reusable with other projects. Migration ========= Through the use of hg-git [#hg-git]_ we can easily convert a Mercurial repository to a Git repository by simply pushing the Mercurial repository to the Git repository. People who wish to continue to use Mercurual locally can then use hg-git going into the future using the new Github URL, however they will need to re-clone their repositories as using Git as the server seems to trigger a one time change of the changeset ids. As none of the selected repositories have any tags, branches, or bookmarks other than the ``default`` branch the migration will simply map the ``default`` branch in Mercurial to the ``master`` branch in git. In addition since none of the selected projects have any great need of a complex bug tracker, they will also migrate their issue handling to using the GitHub issues. In addition to the migration of the repository hosting itself there are a number of locations for each particular repository which will require updating. The bulk of these will simply be changing commands from the hg equivilant to the git equivilant. In particular this will include: * Updating www.python.org to generate PEPs using a git clone and link to Github. * Updating docs.python.org to pull from Github instead of hg.python.org for the devguide. * Enabling the ability to send an email to python-checkins(a)python.org for each push. * Enabling the ability to send an IRC message to #python-dev on Freenode for each push. * Migrate any issues for these projects to their respective bug tracker on Github. This will restore these repositories to similar functionality as they currently have. In addition to this the migration will also include enabling testing for each pull request using Travis CI [#travisci]_ where possible to ensure that a new PR does not break the ability to render the documentation or PEPs. User Access =========== Moving to Github would involve adding an additional user account that will need to be managed, however it also offers finer grained control, allowing the ability to grant someone access to only one particular repository instead of the coarser grained ACLs available on hg.python.org. References ========== .. [#openhub-stats] `Open Hub Statistics <https://www.openhub.net/repositories/compare>` .. [#hg-git] `hg-git <https://hg-git.github.io/>` .. [#travisci] `Travis CI <https://travis-ci.org/>` --- Donald Stufft PGP: 7C6B 7C5D 5E2B 6356 A926 F04F 6E3C BCE9 3372 DCFA

6 years, 2 months

datetime nanosecond support (ctd?)

by Matthieu Bec

newbie first post on this list, if what follows is of context ... Hi all, I'm struggling with issue per the subject, read different threads and issue http://bugs.python.org/issue15443 that started 2012 still opened as of today. Isn't there a legitimate case for nanosecond support? it's all over the place in 'struct timespec' and maybe wrongly I always found python and C were best neighbors. That's for the notional aspect. More practically, aren't we close enough yet with current hardware, PTP and the likes, this deserves more consideration? Maybe this has been mentioned before but the limiting factor isn't just getting nanoseconds, but anything sub-microseconds wont work with the current format. OpcUA that I was looking right now has 10-th us resolution, so really cares about 100ns, but the datetime 1us simply wont cut it. Regards, Matthieu

6 years, 3 months

My thinking about the development process

by Brett Cannon

This is a bit long as I espoused as if this was a blog post to try and give background info on my thinking, etc. The TL;DR folks should start at the "Ideal Scenario" section and read to the end. P.S.: This is in Markdown and I have put it up at https://gist.github.com/brettcannon/a9c9a5989dc383ed73b4 if you want a nicer formatted version for reading. # History lesson Since I signed up for the python-dev mailing list way back in June 2002, there seems to be a cycle where we as a group come to a realization that our current software development process has not kept up with modern practices and could stand for an update. For me this was first shown when we moved from SourceForge to our own infrastructure, then again when we moved from Subversion to Mercurial (I led both of these initiatives, so it's somewhat a tradition/curse I find myself in this position yet again). And so we again find ourselves at the point of realizing that we are not keeping up with current practices and thus need to evaluate how we can improve our situation. # Where we are now Now it should be realized that we have to sets of users of our development process: contributors and core developers (the latter whom can play both roles). If you take a rough outline of our current, recommended process it goes something like this: 1. Contributor clones a repository from hg.python.org 2. Contributor makes desired changes 3. Contributor generates a patch 4. Contributor creates account on bugs.python.org and signs the [contributor agreement](https://www.python.org/psf/contrib/contrib-form/) 4. Contributor creates an issue on bugs.python.org (if one does not already exist) and uploads a patch 5. Core developer evaluates patch, possibly leaving comments through our [custom version of Rietveld](http://bugs.python.org/review/) 6. Contributor revises patch based on feedback and uploads new patch 7. Core developer downloads patch and applies it to a clean clone 8. Core developer runs the tests 9. Core developer does one last `hg pull -u` and then commits the changes to various branches I think we can all agree it works to some extent, but isn't exactly smooth. There are multiple steps in there -- in full or partially -- that can be automated. There is room to improve everyone's lives. And we can't forget the people who help keep all of this running as well. There are those that manage the SSH keys, the issue tracker, the review tool, hg.python.org, and the email system that let's use know when stuff happens on any of these other systems. The impact on them needs to also be considered. ## Contributors I see two scenarios for contributors to optimize for. There's the simple spelling mistake patches and then there's the code change patches. The former is the kind of thing that you can do in a browser without much effort and should be a no-brainer commit/reject decision for a core developer. This is what the GitHub/Bitbucket camps have been promoting their solution for solving while leaving the cpython repo alone. Unfortunately the bulk of our documentation is in the Doc/ directory of cpython. While it's nice to think about moving the devguide, peps, and even breaking out the tutorial to repos hosting on Bitbucket/GitHub, everything else is in Doc/ (language reference, howtos, stdlib, C API, etc.). So unless we want to completely break all of Doc/ out of the cpython repo and have core developers willing to edit two separate repos when making changes that impact code **and** docs, moving only a subset of docs feels like a band-aid solution that ignores the big, white elephant in the room: the cpython repo, where a bulk of patches are targeting. For the code change patches, contributors need an easy way to get a hold of the code and get their changes to the core developers. After that it's things like letting contributors knowing that their patch doesn't apply cleanly, doesn't pass tests, etc. As of right now getting the patch into the issue tracker is a bit manual but nothing crazy. The real issue in this scenario is core developer response time. ## Core developers There is a finite amount of time that core developers get to contribute to Python and it fluctuates greatly. This means that if a process can be found which allows core developers to spend less time doing mechanical work and more time doing things that can't be automated -- namely code reviews -- then the throughput of patches being accepted/rejected will increase. This also impacts any increased patch submission rate that comes from improving the situation for contributors because if the throughput doesn't change then there will simply be more patches sitting in the issue tracker and that doesn't benefit anyone. # My ideal scenario If I had an infinite amount of resources (money, volunteers, time, etc.), this would be my ideal scenario: 1. Contributor gets code from wherever; easiest to just say "fork on GitHub or Bitbucket" as they would be official mirrors of hg.python.org and are updated after every commit, but could clone hg.python.org/cpython if they wanted 2. Contributor makes edits; if they cloned on Bitbucket or GitHub then they have browser edit access already 3. Contributor creates an account at bugs.python.org and signs the CLA 3. The contributor creates an issue at bugs.python.org (probably the one piece of infrastructure we all agree is better than the other options, although its workflow could use an update) 4. If the contributor used Bitbucket or GitHub, they send a pull request with the issue # in the PR message 5. bugs.python.org notices the PR, grabs a patch for it, and puts it on bugs.python.org for code review 6. CI runs on the patch based on what Python versions are specified in the issue tracker, letting everyone know if it applied cleanly, passed tests on the OSs that would be affected, and also got a test coverage report 7. Core developer does a code review 8. Contributor updates their code based on the code review and the updated patch gets pulled by bugs.python.org automatically and CI runs again 9. Once the patch is acceptable and assuming the patch applies cleanly to all versions to commit to, the core developer clicks a "Commit" button, fills in a commit message and NEWS entry, and everything gets committed (if the patch can't apply cleanly then the core developer does it the old-fashion way, or maybe auto-generate a new PR which can be manually touched up so it does apply cleanly?) Basically the ideal scenario lets contributors use whatever tools and platforms that they want and provides as much automated support as possible to make sure their code is tip-top before and during code review while core developers can review and commit patches so easily that they can do their job from a beach with a tablet and some WiFi. ## Where the current proposed solutions seem to fall short ### GitHub/Bitbucket Basically GitHub/Bitbucket is a win for contributors but doesn't buy core developers that much. GitHub/Bitbucket gives contributors the easy cloning, drive-by patches, CI, and PRs. Core developers get a code review tool -- I'm counting Rietveld as deprecated after Guido's comments about the code's maintenance issues -- and push-button commits **only for single branch changes**. But for any patch that crosses branches we don't really gain anything. At best core developers tell a contributor "please send your PR against 3.4", push-button merge it, update a local clone, merge from 3.4 to default, do the usual stuff, commit, and then push; that still keeps me off the beach, though, so that doesn't get us the whole way. You could force people to submit two PRs, but I don't see that flying. Maybe some tool could be written that automatically handles the merge/commit across branches once the initial PR is in? Or automatically create a PR that core developers can touch up as necessary and then accept that as well? Regardless, some solution is necessary to handle branch-crossing PRs. As for GitHub vs. Bitbucket, I personally don't care. I like GitHub's interface more, but that's personal taste. I like hg more than git, but that's also personal taste (and I consider a transition from hg to git a hassle but not a deal-breaker but also not a win). It is unfortunate, though, that under this scenario we would have to choose only one platform. It's also unfortunate both are closed-source, but that's not a deal-breaker, just a knock against if the decision is close. ### Our own infrastructure The shortcoming here is the need for developers, developers, developers! Everything outlined in the ideal scenario is totally doable on our own infrastructure with enough code and time (donated/paid-for infrastructure shouldn't be an issue). But historically that code and time has not materialized. Our code review tool is a fork that probably should be replaced as only Martin von Löwis can maintain it. Basically Ezio Melotti maintains the issue tracker's code. We don't exactly have a ton of people constantly going "I'm so bored because everything for Python's development infrastructure gets sorted so quickly!" A perfect example is that R. David Murray came up with a nice update for our workflow after PyCon but then ran out of time after mostly defining it and nothing ever became of it (maybe we can rectify that at PyCon?). Eric Snow has pointed out how he has written similar code for pulling PRs from I think GitHub to another code review tool, but that doesn't magically make it work in our infrastructure or get someone to write it and help maintain it (no offense, Eric). IOW our infrastructure can do anything, but it can't run on hopes and dreams. Commitments from many people to making this happen by a certain deadline will be needed so as to not allow it to drag on forever. People would also have to commit to continued maintenance to make this viable long-term. # Next steps I'm thinking first draft PEPs by February 1 to know who's all-in (8 weeks away), all details worked out in final PEPs and whatever is required to prove to me it will work by the PyCon language summit (4 months away). I make a decision by May 1, and then implementation aims to be done by the time 3.5.0 is cut so we can switch over shortly thereafter (9 months away). Sound like a reasonable timeline?

6 years, 3 months

python 2.7.9 regression in argparse?

by anatoly techtonik

https://github.com/nickstenning/honcho/pull/121 -- anatoly t.

6 years, 3 months

More compact dictionaries with faster iteration

by Raymond Hettinger

The current memory layout for dictionaries is unnecessarily inefficient. It has a sparse table of 24-byte entries containing the hash value, key pointer, and value pointer. Instead, the 24-byte entries should be stored in a dense table referenced by a sparse table of indices. For example, the dictionary: d = {'timmy': 'red', 'barry': 'green', 'guido': 'blue'} is currently stored as: entries = [['--', '--', '--'], [-8522787127447073495, 'barry', 'green'], ['--', '--', '--'], ['--', '--', '--'], ['--', '--', '--'], [-9092791511155847987, 'timmy', 'red'], ['--', '--', '--'], [-6480567542315338377, 'guido', 'blue']] Instead, the data should be organized as follows: indices = [None, 1, None, None, None, 0, None, 2] entries = [[-9092791511155847987, 'timmy', 'red'], [-8522787127447073495, 'barry', 'green'], [-6480567542315338377, 'guido', 'blue']] Only the data layout needs to change. The hash table algorithms would stay the same. All of the current optimizations would be kept, including key-sharing dicts and custom lookup functions for string-only dicts. There is no change to the hash functions, the table search order, or collision statistics. The memory savings are significant (from 30% to 95% compression depending on the how full the table is). Small dicts (size 0, 1, or 2) get the most benefit. For a sparse table of size t with n entries, the sizes are: curr_size = 24 * t new_size = 24 * n + sizeof(index) * t In the above timmy/barry/guido example, the current size is 192 bytes (eight 24-byte entries) and the new size is 80 bytes (three 24-byte entries plus eight 1-byte indices). That gives 58% compression. Note, the sizeof(index) can be as small as a single byte for small dicts, two bytes for bigger dicts and up to sizeof(Py_ssize_t) for huge dict. In addition to space savings, the new memory layout makes iteration faster. Currently, keys(), values, and items() loop over the sparse table, skipping-over free slots in the hash table. Now, keys/values/items can loop directly over the dense table, using fewer memory accesses. Another benefit is that resizing is faster and touches fewer pieces of memory. Currently, every hash/key/value entry is moved or copied during a resize. In the new layout, only the indices are updated. For the most part, the hash/key/value entries never move (except for an occasional swap to fill a hole left by a deletion). With the reduced memory footprint, we can also expect better cache utilization. For those wanting to experiment with the design, there is a pure Python proof-of-concept here: http://code.activestate.com/recipes/578375 YMMV: Keep in mind that the above size statics assume a build with 64-bit Py_ssize_t and 64-bit pointers. The space savings percentages are a bit different on other builds. Also, note that in many applications, the size of the data dominates the size of the container (i.e. the weight of a bucket of water is mostly the water, not the bucket). Raymond

6 years, 3 months

Summary of Python tracker Issues

by Python tracker

ACTIVITY SUMMARY (2014-12-19 - 2014-12-26) Python tracker at http://bugs.python.org/ To view or respond to any of the issues listed below, click on the issue. Do NOT respond to this message. Issues counts and deltas: open 4691 ( +8) closed 30186 (+18) total 34877 (+26) Open issues with patches: 2198 Issues opened (17) ================== #23094: Unpickler failing with PicklingError at frame end on readline http://bugs.python.org/issue23094 opened by CensoredUsername #23095: asyncio: race condition in IocpProactor.wait_for_handle() http://bugs.python.org/issue23095 opened by haypo #23096: Implementation-depended pickling floats with protocol 0 http://bugs.python.org/issue23096 opened by serhiy.storchaka #23097: unittest can unnecessarily modify sys.path (and with the wrong http://bugs.python.org/issue23097 opened by chris.jerdonek #23098: mknod devices can be >32 bits http://bugs.python.org/issue23098 opened by jcea #23099: BytesIO and StringIO values unavailable when closed http://bugs.python.org/issue23099 opened by vadmium #23100: multiprocessing doc organization impedes understanding http://bugs.python.org/issue23100 opened by davin #23102: distutils: tip-toe around quirks owing to setuptools monkey-pa http://bugs.python.org/issue23102 opened by gmt #23103: ipaddress should be Flyweight http://bugs.python.org/issue23103 opened by sbromberger #23104: [Windows x86-64] ctypes: Incorrect function call http://bugs.python.org/issue23104 opened by Андрей.Парамонов #23105: os.O_SHLOCK and os.O_EXLOCK are not available on Linux http://bugs.python.org/issue23105 opened by Sworddragon #23106: Remove smalltable from set objects http://bugs.python.org/issue23106 opened by rhettinger #23107: Tighten-up search loops in sets http://bugs.python.org/issue23107 opened by rhettinger #23109: French quotes in the documentation are often ungrammatical http://bugs.python.org/issue23109 opened by cpitcla #23111: ftplib.FTP_TLS's default constructor does not work with TLSv1. http://bugs.python.org/issue23111 opened by varde #23114: "dist must be a Distribution instance" check fails with setupt http://bugs.python.org/issue23114 opened by scoder #23115: Backport #22585 -- getentropy for urandom to Python 2.7 http://bugs.python.org/issue23115 opened by alex Most recent 15 issues with no replies (15) ========================================== #23115: Backport #22585 -- getentropy for urandom to Python 2.7 http://bugs.python.org/issue23115 #23114: "dist must be a Distribution instance" check fails with setupt http://bugs.python.org/issue23114 #23111: ftplib.FTP_TLS's default constructor does not work with TLSv1. http://bugs.python.org/issue23111 #23107: Tighten-up search loops in sets http://bugs.python.org/issue23107 #23106: Remove smalltable from set objects http://bugs.python.org/issue23106 #23102: distutils: tip-toe around quirks owing to setuptools monkey-pa http://bugs.python.org/issue23102 #23097: unittest can unnecessarily modify sys.path (and with the wrong http://bugs.python.org/issue23097 #23095: asyncio: race condition in IocpProactor.wait_for_handle() http://bugs.python.org/issue23095 #23086: Add start and stop parameters to the Sequence.index() ABC mixi http://bugs.python.org/issue23086 #23081: Document PySequence_List(o) as equivalent to list(o) http://bugs.python.org/issue23081 #23078: unittest.mock patch autospec doesn't work on staticmethods http://bugs.python.org/issue23078 #23077: PEP 1: Allow Provisional status for PEPs http://bugs.python.org/issue23077 #23075: Mock backport in 2.7 relies on implementation defined behavior http://bugs.python.org/issue23075 #23067: Export readline forced_update_display http://bugs.python.org/issue23067 #23029: test_warnings produces extra output in quiet mode http://bugs.python.org/issue23029 Most recent 15 issues waiting for review (15) ============================================= #23115: Backport #22585 -- getentropy for urandom to Python 2.7 http://bugs.python.org/issue23115 #23107: Tighten-up search loops in sets http://bugs.python.org/issue23107 #23106: Remove smalltable from set objects http://bugs.python.org/issue23106 #23103: ipaddress should be Flyweight http://bugs.python.org/issue23103 #23102: distutils: tip-toe around quirks owing to setuptools monkey-pa http://bugs.python.org/issue23102 #23099: BytesIO and StringIO values unavailable when closed http://bugs.python.org/issue23099 #23098: mknod devices can be >32 bits http://bugs.python.org/issue23098 #23094: Unpickler failing with PicklingError at frame end on readline http://bugs.python.org/issue23094 #23089: Update libffi config files http://bugs.python.org/issue23089 #23088: Document that PyUnicode_AsUTF8() returns a null-terminated str http://bugs.python.org/issue23088 #23085: update internal libffi copy to 3.2.1 http://bugs.python.org/issue23085 #23081: Document PySequence_List(o) as equivalent to list(o) http://bugs.python.org/issue23081 #23080: BoundArguments.arguments should be unordered http://bugs.python.org/issue23080 #23075: Mock backport in 2.7 relies on implementation defined behavior http://bugs.python.org/issue23075 #23067: Export readline forced_update_display http://bugs.python.org/issue23067 Top 10 most discussed issues (10) ================================= #23103: ipaddress should be Flyweight http://bugs.python.org/issue23103 17 msgs #21279: str.translate documentation incomplete http://bugs.python.org/issue21279 8 msgs #23098: mknod devices can be >32 bits http://bugs.python.org/issue23098 5 msgs #22896: Don't use PyObject_As*Buffer() functions http://bugs.python.org/issue22896 4 msgs #23061: Update pep8 to specify explicitly 'module level' imports at to http://bugs.python.org/issue23061 4 msgs #19548: 'codecs' module docs improvements http://bugs.python.org/issue19548 3 msgs #22836: Broken "Exception ignored in:" message on exceptions in __repr http://bugs.python.org/issue22836 3 msgs #22926: asyncio: raise an exception when called from the wrong thread http://bugs.python.org/issue22926 3 msgs #23043: doctest ignores "from __future__ import print_function" http://bugs.python.org/issue23043 3 msgs #23094: Unpickler failing with PicklingError at frame end on readline http://bugs.python.org/issue23094 3 msgs Issues closed (17) ================== #19104: pprint produces invalid output for long strings http://bugs.python.org/issue19104 closed by serhiy.storchaka #19539: The 'raw_unicode_escape' codec buggy + not appropriate for Pyt http://bugs.python.org/issue19539 closed by zuo #20069: Add unit test for os.chown http://bugs.python.org/issue20069 closed by r.david.murray #21793: httplib client/server status refactor http://bugs.python.org/issue21793 closed by serhiy.storchaka #22585: os.urandom() should use getentropy() of OpenBSD 5.6 http://bugs.python.org/issue22585 closed by haypo #23040: Better documentation for the urlencode safe parameter http://bugs.python.org/issue23040 closed by r.david.murray #23071: codecs.__all__ incomplete http://bugs.python.org/issue23071 closed by serhiy.storchaka #23087: Exec variable not found error http://bugs.python.org/issue23087 closed by terry.reedy #23090: fix test_doctest relying on refcounting to close files http://bugs.python.org/issue23090 closed by python-dev #23091: unpacked keyword arguments are not unicode normalized http://bugs.python.org/issue23091 closed by benjamin.peterson #23092: Python 2.7.9 test_readline regression on CentOS 6 http://bugs.python.org/issue23092 closed by berker.peksag #23093: repr() on detached stream objects fails http://bugs.python.org/issue23093 closed by python-dev #23101: bleh, sorry, my cat reported this non-bug :) http://bugs.python.org/issue23101 closed by gmt #23108: pysha3 fails with obscure internal error http://bugs.python.org/issue23108 closed by benjamin.peterson #23110: Document if argument to Py_SetPath requires static storage. http://bugs.python.org/issue23110 closed by python-dev #23112: SimpleHTTPServer/http.server adds trailing slash after query s http://bugs.python.org/issue23112 closed by python-dev #23113: Compiler doesn't recognize qualified exec('', {}) http://bugs.python.org/issue23113 closed by johnf

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Python-Dev December 2014