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Groups > comp.lang.python > #32442

Re: Negative array indicies and slice()

From Roy Smith <roy@panix.com>
Newsgroups comp.lang.python
Subject Re: Negative array indicies and slice()
Date 2012-10-29 19:24 -0400
Organization PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC
Message-ID <roy-4A06AD.19241029102012@news.panix.com> (permalink)
References (5 earlier) <508e6649$0$29967$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> <508E1BC9.3000308@r3dsolutions.com> <CALwzid=rhea2aMXM_St2FwTiAx+cnZ20_H6RtwW0_81uSQAFBQ@mail.gmail.com> <508EA3EF.5080504@r3dsolutions.com> <mailman.3056.1351552107.27098.python-list@python.org>

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In article <mailman.3056.1351552107.27098.python-list@python.org>,
 Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 9:42 AM, Andrew Robinson
> <andrew3@r3dsolutions.com> wrote:
> > The list was generated in a single pass by many .append() 's, and then
> > copied once -- the original was left in place; and then I attempted to slice
> > it.
> 
> Note that if the list was generated by .appends, then it was copied
> more than once.  Python reserves a specific amount of space for the
> list.  When it grows past that, the list must be reallocated and
> copied.  It grows the list exponentially in order to keep the
> amortized time complexity of append at O(1), but the point is that a
> list of 20 million items is going to be resized and copied several
> times before it is complete.

I think you're missing the point of "amortized constant time".  Yes, the 
first item appended to the list will be copied lg(20,000,000) ~= 25 
times, because the list will be resized that many times(*).  But, on 
average (I'm not sure if "average" is strictly the correct word here), 
each item will be copied only once.

Still, it always stuck me as odd that there's no preallocate() method.  
There are times when you really do know how many items you're going to 
add to the list, and doing a single allocation would be a win.  And it 
doesn't cost anything to provide it.  I suppose, however, if you're 
adding enough items that preallocating would really matter, then maybe 
you want an array instead.

(*) I don't know the exact implementation; I'm assuming each resize is a 
factor of 2.

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Thread

Negative array indicies and slice() andrewr3mail@gmail.com - 2012-10-28 20:12 -0700
  Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-28 21:42 -0600
    Re: Negative array indicies and slice() andrewr3mail@gmail.com - 2012-10-28 21:00 -0700
      Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-28 22:25 -0600
        Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew <andrewr3mail@gmail.com> - 2012-10-29 00:54 -0700
          Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Chris Rebert <clp2@rebertia.com> - 2012-10-29 01:18 -0700
          Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-10-29 11:19 +0000
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-10-29 22:32 +1100
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew Robinson <andrew3@r3dsolutions.com> - 2012-10-28 21:52 -0700
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-10-29 23:40 +1100
              Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-10-29 22:02 +0000
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew Robinson <andrew3@r3dsolutions.com> - 2012-10-28 23:01 -0700
              Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2012-10-29 09:52 -0400
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew Robinson <andrew3@r3dsolutions.com> - 2012-10-29 08:20 -0700
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-29 17:01 -0600
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Oscar Benjamin <oscar.j.benjamin@gmail.com> - 2012-10-30 00:04 +0000
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew Robinson <andrew3@r3dsolutions.com> - 2012-10-29 16:54 -0700
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-30 02:15 -0600
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-10-30 00:53 +1100
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-29 11:09 -0600
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-10-29 22:14 +0000
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew Robinson <andrew3@r3dsolutions.com> - 2012-10-29 08:42 -0700
              Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-10-30 00:02 +0000
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew Robinson <andrew3@r3dsolutions.com> - 2012-10-29 12:34 -0700
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-10-30 08:17 +0000
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew Robinson <andrew3@r3dsolutions.com> - 2012-10-30 08:47 -0700
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-10-30 23:48 +0000
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Michael Torrie <torriem@gmail.com> - 2012-10-30 23:29 -0600
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Michael Torrie <torriem@gmail.com> - 2012-10-29 23:53 -0600
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew Robinson <andrew3@r3dsolutions.com> - 2012-10-29 17:04 -0700
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-10-30 09:55 +1100
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-29 17:07 -0600
              Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2012-10-29 19:24 -0400
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-29 17:43 -0600
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2012-10-29 20:17 -0400
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-29 18:05 -0600
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew Robinson <andrew3@r3dsolutions.com> - 2012-10-29 11:00 -0700
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Chris Kaynor <ckaynor@zindagigames.com> - 2012-10-29 18:49 -0700
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew Robinson <andrew3@r3dsolutions.com> - 2012-10-29 15:39 -0700
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-29 23:55 -0600
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-30 00:51 -0600
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew Robinson <andrew3@r3dsolutions.com> - 2012-10-29 17:17 -0700
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-30 01:21 -0600
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-30 01:32 -0600
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-30 02:46 -0600
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-30 12:02 -0600
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew Robinson <andrew3@r3dsolutions.com> - 2012-10-30 07:21 -0700
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-10-30 21:33 +0000
              Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-10-31 10:07 +0000
                Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-10-31 16:01 +0000
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-30 15:47 -0600
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-30 15:55 -0600
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-10-31 09:00 +1100
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-30 16:02 -0600
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-10-30 23:30 +0000
          Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-10-29 11:27 -0600
          Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew Robinson <andrew3@r3dsolutions.com> - 2012-10-29 16:33 -0700
        Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew <andrewr3mail@gmail.com> - 2012-10-29 00:54 -0700
    Re: Negative array indicies and slice() andrewr3mail@gmail.com - 2012-10-28 21:00 -0700
    Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew <andrewr3mail@gmail.com> - 2012-10-28 21:09 -0700
      Re: Negative array indicies and slice() alex23 <wuwei23@gmail.com> - 2012-10-28 21:44 -0700
        Re: Negative array indicies and slice() andrewr3mail@gmail.com - 2012-10-29 01:24 -0700
          Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Chris Rebert <clp2@rebertia.com> - 2012-10-29 01:37 -0700
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() andrewr3mail@gmail.com - 2012-10-29 01:59 -0700
              Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-10-29 09:36 +0000
              Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-10-29 10:34 +0000
            Re: Negative array indicies and slice() andrewr3mail@gmail.com - 2012-10-29 01:59 -0700
      Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-28 22:14 -0700
        Re: Negative array indicies and slice() andrewr3mail@gmail.com - 2012-10-29 01:08 -0700
          Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Chris Rebert <clp2@rebertia.com> - 2012-10-29 01:26 -0700
    Re: Negative array indicies and slice() Andrew <andrewr3mail@gmail.com> - 2012-10-28 21:09 -0700
  Re: Negative array indicies and slice() MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2012-10-29 03:45 +0000
  Re: Negative array indicies and slice() 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@googlemail.com> - 2012-11-01 18:08 -0700

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