unsigned 32 bit arithmetic type?

sturlamolden sturlamolden at yahoo.no
Wed Oct 25 14:38:40 EDT 2006


Robin Becker wrote:

> it's probably wonderful, but I don't think I can ask people to add numpy to the
> list of requirements for reportlab :)

Maybe NumPy makes it into the core Python tree one day. At some point
other Python users than die-hard scientists and mathematicans will
realise that for and while loops are the root of all evil when doing
CPU bound operations in an interpreted language. Array slicing and
vectorised statements can be faster by astronomical proportions.


Here is one example: http://tinyurl.com/y79zhc

This statement that required twenty seconds to execute

    dim = size(infocbcr);

    image = zeros(dim(1), dim(2));

    for i = 1:dim(1)
         for j = 1:dim(2)
             cb = double(infocbcr(i,j,2));
             cr = double(infocbcr(i,j,3));
             x = [(cb-media_b); (cr-media_r)];
             %this gives a mult of 1*2 * 2*2 * 2*1
             image(i,j) = exp(-0.5* x'*inv(brcov)* x);
         end
     end

could be replaced with an equivalent condensed statement that only
required a fraction of a second:

image = reshape(exp(-0.5*sum(((chol(brcov)')\ ...
   ((reshape(double(infocbcr(:,:,2:3)),dim(1)*dim(2),2)')...
   -repmat([media_b;media_r],1,dim(1)*dim(2)))).^2)'),dim(1),dim(2));

This was Matlab, but the same holds for Python and NumPy. The overhead
in the first code sniplet comes from calling the interpreter inside a
tight loop. That is why loops are the root of evilness when doung CPU
bound tasks in an interpreted language. I would think that 9 out of 10
tasks most Python users think require a C extension is actually more
easily solved with NumPy. This is old knowledge from the Matlab
community: even if you think you need a "MEX file" (that is, a C
extension for Matlab), you probably don't. Vectorize and it will be
fast enough.




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