Python 2.5c2 eeks out a little more

Of course I took Python 2.5c2 through an obligatory performance drill using QP, a Python web application framework. During the Python 2.5 beta period I had run these tests on Python 2.4 and 2.5b2 and found that the string, unicode, and other performance improvements in 2.5 contributed towards noticeable, evolutionary, improvement overall.

Putting qp through the wringer on an older server (1.26Ghz Intel, FreeBSD, 4GB RAM, fast disk) turns out results like this:

For code like this:

class SiteDirectory (Directory):
    """
    A simple app for testing raw throughput with tools like
    `ab` and `siege`.
    """
    cache = None
    last_component = None

    
    def _q_lookup [html](self, component):
        """
        If component (n) is an int, return n random bytes, caching
        the result until component changes.
        """
        try:
            if component != self.last_component:
                self.cache = randbytes(int(round(float(component)/2)))
                self.last_component = component
            return self.cache
        except ValueError, e:
            raise ValueError( 
                 'To return n-length of random characters, supply an '
                 'integer in the URL instead of [%s].' % component)

Note to self: keep this around for comparing to future framework and Python revisions.