I run python 2.7 and matlab R2010a on the same machine, doing nothing, and it gives me 10x different in speed
I looked online, and heard it should be the same order.
Python will further slow down as if statement and math operator in the for loop
My question: is this the reality? or there is some other way let them in the same speed order?
Here is python code
import time
start_time = time.time()
for r in xrange(1000):
for c in xrange(1000):
continue
elapsed_time = time.time() - start_time
print 'time cost = ',elapsed_time
Output: time cost = 0.0377440452576
Here is matlab code
tic
for i = 1:1000
for j = 1:1000
end
end
toc
Output: Escaped time is 0.004200 seconds
解决方案
The reason this is happening is related to the JIT compiler, which is optimizing the MATLAB for loop. You can disable/enable the JIT accelerator using feature accel off and feature accel on. When you disable the accelerator, the times change dramatically.
MATLAB with accel on: Elapsed time is 0.009407 seconds.
MATLAB with accel off: Elapsed time is 0.287955 seconds.
python: time cost = 0.0511920452118
Thus the JIT accelerator is directly causing the speedup that you are noticing. There is another thing that you should consider, which is related to the way that you defined the iteration indices. In both cases, MATLAB and python, you used Iterators to define your loops. In MATLAB you create the actual values by adding the square brackets ([]), and in python you use range instead of xrange. When you make these changes
% MATLAB
for i = [1:1000]
for j = [1:1000]
# python
for r in range(1000):
for c in range(1000):
The times become
MATLAB with accel on: Elapsed time is 0.338701 seconds.
MATLAB with accel off: Elapsed time is 0.289220 seconds.
python: time cost = 0.0606048107147
One final consideration is if you were to add a quick computation to the loop. ie t=t+1. Then the times become
MATLAB with accel on: Elapsed time is 1.340830 seconds.
MATLAB with accel off: Elapsed time is 0.905956 seconds. (Yes off was faster)
python: time cost = 0.147221088409
I think that the moral here is that the computation speeds of for loops, out-of-the box, are comparable for extremely simple loops, depending on the situation. However, there are other, numerical tools in python which can speed things up significantly, numpy and PyPy have been brought up so far.