[Python-3000] PyUnicodeObject implementation

[Guido van Rossum]

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 7:42 AM, M.-A. Lemburg <mal at egenix.com> wrote:
> On 2008-09-26 12:08, Antoine Pitrou wrote:
>> So what would be the outcome of this discussion, and should a decision (and
>> which one) be taken?
>
> I'm still -1 on changing Unicode objects to PyVarObjects for the
> reasons already stated in various postings on this thread and on
> the ticket.

I still find those reasons rather weak; the old 8-bit string object
was pretty darn successful despite being a PyVarObject.

> I'd much rather like to see the parameters of the implementation
> optimized (both in the Unicode implementation and pymalloc). See the
> ticket discussion for details.

I think the only way to decide is to have an alternative
implementation ready and prove that it is faster. Or maybe it isn't,
which would also decide the case. In order to allow for a fair race,
if the new implementation comes up with a neat speed-up trick that
could also be applied to the old implementation, it should be remove
or applied to both implementations. That is, I don't want a black-box
race -- I want to see it proven that for a realistic app the choice to
use a PyVarObject actually makes a difference.

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)