[Python-Dev] C API for gc.enable() and gc.disable() (original) (raw)

"Martin v. Löwis" martin at v.loewis.de
Sat Jun 21 17:11:16 CEST 2008

I can say with complete certainty that of the 20+ programmers I've had working for me, many who have used Python for 3+ years, not a single one would think to question the garbage collector if they observed the kind of quadratic time complexity I've demonstrated. This is not because they are stupid, but because they have only a vague idea that Python even has a garbage collector, never mind that it could be behaving badly for such innocuous looking code.

Maybe we should consider more carefully before declaring the status quo sufficient.

This was precisely my question: What follows from the above observation?

I personally didn't declare the status quo sufficient - I merely declared it as being the status quo.

Average developers do allocate millions of objects in bursts and super-linear time complexity for such operations is not acceptable. Thankfully I am around to help my programmers work around such issues or else they'd be pushing to switch to Java, Ruby, C#, or whatever since Python was inexplicably "too slow" for "real work". This being open source, I'm certainly willing to help in the effort to do so, but not if potential solutions will be ruled out as being unnecessary.

I wouldn't rule out solutions as being unnecessary. I might rule out solutions that negatively impact existing software, for the sake of improving other existing software.

Unfortunately, the only way to find out whether a solution will be ruled out is to propose it first. Only then you'll see what response you get.

Regards, Martin

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