[Python-Dev] Dictionary sparseness

[Guido van Rossum]

> After more dictionary sparseness experiments, I've become 
> convinced that the ideal settings are better left up to the user 
> who is in a better position to know:
> 
> * anticipated dictionary size 
> * overall application memory issues
> * characteristic access patterns (stores vs. reads vs. deletions
>   vs. iteration)
> * when the dictionary is growing, shrinking, or stablized.
> * whether many deletions have taken place

Hm.  Maybe so, but it *is* a feature that there are no user controls
over dictionary behavior, based on the observation that for every user
who knows enough about the dict implementation to know how to tweak
it, there are at least 1000 who don't, and the latter, in their
ill-advised quest for more speed, will use the tweakage API to their
detriment.

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