Maximum List Sizes

[gbp]

Yes it can I handle slightly larger datasets at work.

However you need a decent machine.  I have 256 megs of RAM.

My advice is to write a simple test program before you start your
project.  Just have your test program generate a list of 10,000 random
lines of text.  Now try to sort it.  It your machine can do it your
fine.  (If not maybe you can just buy more RAM).

Also the Relational database module gadfly may help you with large data
sets if you know SQL.  

bushi wrote:
> 
> Being a Python user of all of two weeks, I am pleased with my first real
> effort to create a script that does something useful.  It duplicates the
> functionality of a Delphi program that I wrote some time ago.  It still
> has some rough edges but that's just learning curve.  Basically what it
> does is extracts the vertices (x,y,z coordinates) from a WaveFront .obj
> file.  The original file is about 950K while the resulting vertices file
> is about 350K.  OK, that's kind of a round-about way to get to the
> question.  The vertices file contains some 9500 lines of about 40-60
> characters per line.  I would like to perform some transformations on
> the vertices.  Can Python effectively handle a list this large (9500+
> items X 40-60 bytes / item) or would it be better to do the
> transformations using temp files?
> 
> I have to say that I am also some what surprised with the processing
> speed of Python.  The Delphi program that I wrote to do this same
> process seemed pretty fast.  The Python script is 2-3 times faster.  Go
> figure. ;->