[Pythonmac-SIG] Performance improvement in Python 2.4.1/wxPython 2.6?

[Bob Ippolito]

On May 17, 2005, at 11:45 PM, Kevin Walzer wrote:

> Has anyone using wxPython libraries noticed a performance  
> improvement in
> Bob's Python 2.4.1 build and wxPython 2.6? I'm working on some new
> versions of the wxPython apps I maintain, and they seem less crash- 
> prone
> when linking against the latest and greatest than the Apple-shipped
> Python/wxPython. If others are noticing this, I may rethink my  
> decision
> about supporting only the Apple installation. Please let me know your
> comments.

In general, Python 2.4 is noticeably faster than Python 2.3.  I don't  
know of a single case where it got slower, and I know of many cases  
where it got a lot faster.  I think on average, it's like 30%  
faster... the usual disclaimers about statistics and benchmarks  
apply, but it *is* faster in every case I've ever seen.

As for stability, there is at least one known threading bug with  
Python 2.3.0 that may cause certain kinds of deadlocks or crashes  
when using something like wxPython (we ran across it in PyObjC.. the  
fix is to not use Python 2.3.0 :).  Python 2.3.5 doesn't have this  
bug in particular, but who knows what others it may have and who  
knows IF fixes will ever be backported, since it has basically  
reached its end of life.

For wxPython, I certainly would always want to use the latest and  
greatest on the Mac.  They have yet to make a Mac release that I  
would consider release quality.

-bob