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Python: The Optimization Ladder
41–50 of 154 posts
Re: Python: The Optimization Ladder
#42I must admit that I'm amused by the people who find the writeup useful but are turned off by the AI "smell". And look forward to the day when all valued content reeks of said "smell"; let's see what detractors-for-no-good-reason do then (yes I'm a bit ticked by the attitude).
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Re: Python: The Optimization Ladder
#43The replacement of emdashes with double hyphens here is almost insulting. A look through the blog history suggests that the author has no issue writing in English normally, and nothing seems really off about the actual findings here (or even the speculation about causes etc.), so I really can't understand the motivation for LLM-generated prose. (The author's usual writing style appears to have some arguable LLM-isms, but they make a lot more sense in context and of course those patterns had to come from somewhere. The overall effect is quite different.)
Edit: it's strange to get downvoted while also getting replies that agree with me and don't seem to object.
(Also, I thought it wasn't supposed to be possible to edit after getting a reply?)
Re: Python: The Optimization Ladder
#44Missing: write static python and transpile to rust pyO3 which is at the top of the ladder. Some nuance: try transpiling to a garbage collected rust like language with fast compilation until you have millions of users. Also use a combination of neural and deterministic methods to transpile depending on the complexity.
> a garbage collected rust like language with fast compilation
I don't know what languages you might have in mind. "Rust-like" in what sense?
Re: Python: The Optimization Ladder
#45I must admit that I'm amused by the people who find the writeup useful but are turned off by the AI "smell". And look forward to the day when all valued content reeks of said "smell"; let's see what detractors-for-no-good-reason do then (yes I'm a bit ticked by the attitude).
Why is it amusing?
How can you suppose that this is not a good reason to object, especially days after https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47340079 ?
I find the style so reflexively grating that it's honestly hard for me to imagine others not being bothered by it, let alone being bothered by others being bothered.
Especially since I looked at previous posts on the blog and they didn't have the same problem.
Re: Python: The Optimization Ladder
#46I must admit that I'm amused by the people who find the writeup useful but are turned off by the AI "smell". And look forward to the day when all valued content reeks of said "smell"; let's see what detractors-for-no-good-reason do then (yes I'm a bit ticked by the attitude).
"I totally get a kick out of the peeps who find the writeup super helpful yet are totally put off by that distinct "AI smell"—it’s like they can't even! Just imagine when everything we value is woven into a tapestry of that same "smell"—where will all the naysayers retreat to then? It’s a little frustrating, honestly, and I’m just like, come on! Let’s delve into this new era of content and embrace the chaos!"
There, FTFY :D
Re: Python: The Optimization Ladder
#47I love how in an article about making python faster, the fastest option is to simply write Rust, lol
Re: Python: The Optimization Ladder
#48> language slow > looks inside > the reference implementation of language is slow Despite its content, this blogpost also pushes this exact " language slow" thinking in its preamble. I don't think nearly enough people read past introductions for that to be a responsible choice or a good idea. The only thing worse than this is when Python specifically is outright taught (!) as an "interpeted language", as if an implem…
While I sympathize (and have said similar in the past), language design can (and in Python's case certainly does) hinder optimization quite a bit. The techniques that are purely "use a better implementation" get you not much further than PyPy. Further benefits come from cross-compilation that requires restricting access to language features (and a system that can statically be convinced that those features weren't used!), or indeed straight up using code written in a different language through an FFI.
But yes, the very terminology "interpreted language" was designed for a different era and is somewhere between misleading and incomprehensible in context. (Not unlike "pass by value".)
Re: Python: The Optimization Ladder
#49I wish there were more details on this part. > Missing @cython.cdivision(True) inserts a zero-division check before every floating-point divide in the inner loop. Millions of branches that are never taken. I thought never taken branches were essentially free. Does this mean something in the loop is messing with the branch predictor?
They're cheap but not free, especially at the front end of the CPU where it's just a lot more instructions to churn through. What the branch predictor gets you is it turns branches, which would normally cause a pipeline bubble, to be executed like straightline code if they're predicted right. It's a bit like a tracing jit. But you will still have a bunch of extra instructions to, like, compute the branch predicate.
Worse, IMO, is the never taken branch taking up space in branch prediction buffers. Which will cause worse predictions elsewhere (when this branch ip collides with a legitimate ip). Unless I missed a subtlety and never taken branches don’t get assigned any resources until they are taken (which would be pretty smart actually).
Re: Python: The Optimization Ladder
#50The replacement of emdashes with double hyphens here is almost insulting. A look through the blog history suggests that the author has no issue writing in English normally, and nothing seems really off about the actual findings here (or even the speculation about causes etc.), so I really can't understand the motivation for LLM-generated prose. (The author's usual writing style appears to have some arguable LLM-isms,…
Same problems, same Apple M4 Pro, real numbers.