[Python-Dev] Python parallel benchmark

[Hrvoje Nikšić]

On Fri, 2008-05-16 at 08:04 -0400, Tom Pinckney wrote:
> Here's one example, albeit from a few years ago
> 
> http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Mail/Message/numpy-discussion/1625465

Thanks for the pointer.  I'm not sure I fully understand Konrad Hinsen's
concerns, but maybe the problem is that Numpy's "number-crunching" needs
to call back into Python frequently.  The notion of "releasing the GIL
for number-crunching" assumes that the code is structured like this:

1. code that works with python objects ...
2. acquire pointer to a C struct/array ...
3. release GIL
4. work with C objects ("crunch the numbers") without calling any Python
code and without touching Python objects or refcounts
5. reacquire GIL

If step 4 needs to call into Python frequently, then this strategy won't
really work.