Hello,
I want to implement a caching data structure in Python that allows me
to:
1. Quickly look up objects using a key
2. Keep track of the order in which the objects are accessed (most
recently and least recently accessed one, not a complete history)
3. Quickly retrieve and remove the least recently accessed object.
Here's my idea for the implementation:
The objects in the cache are encapsulated in wrapper objects:
class OrderedDictElement(object):
__slots__ = [ "next", "prev", "key", "value" ]
These wrapper objects are then kept in a linked lists and in an ordinary
dict (self.data) in parallel. Object access then works as follows:
def __setitem__(self, key, value):
if key in self.data:
# Key already exists, just overwrite value
self.data[key].value = value
else:
# New key, attach at head of list
with self.lock:
el = OrderedDictElement(key, value, next=self.head.next,
prev=self.head)
self.head.next.prev = el
self.head.next = el
self.data[key] = el
def __getitem__(self, key):
return self.data[key].value
To 'update the access time' of an object, I use
def to_head(self, key):
with self.lock:
el = self.data[key]
# Splice out
el.prev.next = el.next
el.next.prev = el.prev
# Insert back at front
el.next = self.head.next
el.prev = self.head
self.head.next.prev = el
self.head.next = el
self.head and self.tail are special sentinel objects that only have a
.next and .prev attribute respectively.
While this is probably going to work, I'm not sure if its the best
solution, so I'd appreciate any comments. Can it be done more elegantly?
Or is there an entirely different way to construct the data structure
that also fulfills my requirements?
I already looked at the new OrderedDict class in Python 3.1, but
apparently it does not allow me to change the ordering and is therefore
not suitable for my purpose. (I can move something to one end by
deleting and reinserting it, but I'd like to keep at least the option of also
moving objects to the opposite end).
Best,
-Nikolaus
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