[Python-Dev] Dictionary sparseness

[Tim Peters]

[Walter D=F6rwald]
> ...
> Has anybody tried state machines for symbol tables in Python?

Not that I know of.

> The size of the transition table might be a problem and any attempt
> to reduce the size might kill performance in the inner loop.
> Performancewise stringobject.c/string_hash() is hard to
> beat (especially when the hash value is already cached).

Which is why, if nobody ever did or ever does try alternative approac=
hes, I
would be neither surprised nor disappointed <0.9 wink>.