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Recent Optimizations in Python's Reference Counting
- zahlman 9mo agoThis seems like a pretty big deal that should have gotten more attention in the 3.14 release. It's fairly buried in the "What's New" document, but apparently the original issue is at https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/130704 https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/130704 and corresponding PR https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/130708 https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/130708 .
- Waterluvian 9mo agoHas improving CPython performance become a huge focus in just the past five years or so, or is that just a perception issue on my end?
- Bjartr 9mo agoBecause of how much of a cornerstone python generally has been in AI circles, performance improvements have gotten a lot more attention in the past few years.
- gizmo686 9mo agoIs python performance actually relevant to AI use cases? It's my understanding that all of the actual number crunching is done with native code.
- Bjartr 9mo agoSure, but that doesn't mean there's no ergonomic benefits to the surrounding code being faster. Plus there's just more eyes and attention on the ecosystem.
- mburns 9mo agoA developer wrote a paper in 2020 about how to make Python substantially (5x) faster. Microsoft then funded a 'Fast CPython' team that included Guido, to realize that goal. They disbanded the team in June. https://devblogs.microsoft.com/python/python-311-faster-cpython-team/ https://devblogs.microsoft.com/python/python-311-faster-cpyt...
- f311a 9mo agoGuido gave up the idea of keeping CPython interpreter simple. It's now a complex beast with JIT and a lot of small optimizations.