Making Python programs fast & why Go’s tooling is an undervalued tech

#todayilearned #go #python #api

TL;DR notes from articles I read today.

Find what parts of your code are slowing down the program. A simple & lazy solution is to use a Unix time command. You can also use cProfile for detailed profiling.
Once bottlenecks are identified, time the slow function without measuring the rest of the code.
The most obvious way of making it faster is to use built-in data types.
Caching or memoization with lru_cache will help improve functions that perform expensive I/O operations or some fairly slow recursive functions.
You can improve performance, by using seemingly unnecessary assignments like local variables.
You can also speed up your code just by wrapping the whole code in the main function and calling it once.
Avoid or limit using dot operators (.) as they trigger dictionary lookup using getattribute, which creates extra overhead in your code.
Operations on strings like modulus (%s) or .format() can get quite slow when running in a loop. Go for f-string instead which is the most readable, concise and fastest method.

Full post here, 5 mins read

As it has no external dependencies, you can build the latest version of Go using just the compiler in seconds and cross-compiling only needs setting a couple of environmental variables (GOOS and GOARCH).
Go uses decentralized package management, or rather, module management. There is no central module manager or module registration, no external repository to trust and no need for an internal one.
Since a module only needs to be hosted on a reachable network with valid HTTPS certification, with the network path becoming the name, there is no worry over duplicating popular module names.
Dependencies are cryptographically locked to versions. So, an upstream source cannot change a published module for those depending on it.
As each dependency is a single point of failure, Go checks with a module proxy before fetching the dependency. If you prefer, there is a GOINSECURE option for experimentation to avoid HTTPS certification.

Full post here, 6 mins read

Impose consistency so that similar endpoints behave in similar ways, even in edge scenarios, with consistent vocabulary, URL structure, request/response formats and error handling. This will help ensure that users don’t need to read extensive documentation and handling updates becomes easier for developers.
Achieve performance by avoiding early optimization, waiting until you have the right metric in place to optimize based on hard data - and collect that data from day one, with an APM tool.
Use metrics to inform evolution, so that you update and add features based on actual user usage of endpoints to avoid or minimize disruptions to existing implementations.
For complex APIs, avoid a 1:1 mapping between database tables and API resources. Build in usability by simplifying business transactions to require a single API call rather than multiple. If it isn’t possible, be as flexible as you can.
Adopt simplicity by building on top of universally accepted standards and tools. This will mean less overheads and less room for mistakes.

Full post here, 7 mins read

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