[Python-Dev] _sre as part of python.dll

[Gordon McMillan]

On 8 Aug 2002 at 17:51, Tim Peters wrote:

> If the real goal is to reduce startup time, we
> should analyze where startup time is being spent;
> random thrashing "in that general direction" won't
> satisfy in the end. 

In the 1.5.2 timeframe, most *startup* time was
spent figuring out where to root sys.path (looking
for the sentinel, deciding if this is a developer
build, etc.). In crude experiments on my Linux
box, I got rid of a few hundred system calls
just by removing most of the intelligence from
the getpath stuff. 

Then there are the things you can do with import
(archives, careful crafting of sys.path), but that's
harder to do, especially in a way that will satisfy
most people / most scripts.

So the lowest hanging fruit, I think, is to find some
way of telling Python "don't be clever - just start
here", and have it fallback to current behavior in
the absence of that info.

-- Gordon
http://www.mcmillan-inc.com/