[Numpy-discussion] array.min() vs. min(array)

[Arnd Baecker]

Moin,

On Wed, 26 Apr 2006, Travis Oliphant wrote:

> Ryan Krauss wrote:
> > I was spending some time trying to track down how to speed up an
> > algorithm that gets called a bunch of times during an optimization.  I
> > was startled when I finally figured out that most of the time was
> > wasted by using the built-in pyhton min function.  It turns out that
> > in my case, using array.min() (i.e. the method of the Numpy array) is
> > 300-500 times faster than the built-in python min function (i.e.
> > min(array)).
> >
> > So, thank you Travis and everyone who has put so much time into
> > thinking through Numpy and making it fast (as well as making sure it
> > is correct).
>
> The builtin min function is a bit confusing because it usually does work
> on NumPy arrays.  But, as you've noticed it is always slower because it
> uses the "generic sequence interface" that NumPy arrays expose.  So,
> it's basically not much faster than a Python loop.  In this case you are
> also being hit by the fact that scalarmath is not yet implemented (it's
> getting close though...)  so the returned array scalars are being
> compared using the bulky ufunc machinery on each element separately.
>
> In Python 2.5 we are going to have the same issues with the new any()
> and all() functions of Python.

I am just preparing a small text to collect such cases for the wiki.

However, I am not sure about a good name for such a page:
  http://www.scipy.org/Cookbook/Speed
  http://www.scipy.org/Cookbook/SpeedProblems
  http://www.scipy.org/Cookbook/Performance
?
(As usual, it is easy to start a page, than to properly maintain
it. OTOH things like this get lost very quickly, in particular with this
nice amount of traffic here).

In addition this also relates to
- profiling

  (For example I would like to add the contents of
  http://mail.enthought.com/pipermail/enthought-dev/2006-January/001075.html
  to the wiki at some point)
- psyco
- pyrex
- f2py
- weave
- numexpr
- ...

Presently much of this is listed in the Cookbook under
"Using NumPy With Other Languages (Advanced)",
and therefore the above "Python only" issues don't quite fit.
Any suggestions?

Best, Arnd