Just wondering

[Marco Mariani]

Gediminas Kregzde wrote:


> def doit(i):
>    pass
> 
> def main():
>    a = [0] * 10000000
>    t = time()
>    map(doit, a)
>    print "map time: " + str(time() - t)

Here you are calling a function ten million times, build a list with of 
ten million None results, then throw it away.


> def main2():
>    t = time()
>    a = [0] * 10000000
>    for i in a:
>        pass
>    print "loop time: " + str(time() - t)

Here you do nothing but iterating 'i' over the 'a' list.


> main()  # takes approximately 5x times longer than main2()
> main2()
> 
> I'm wondering were is catch?

Function calls are not free in python. They cost a lot more than they do 
in C, Delphi or other languages.