Hi all, Using numpy, I can create large 2-dimensional arrays quite easily. >>> import numpy >>> mylist = numpy.zeros((100000000,2), dtype=numpy.int32)
Unfortunately, my target audience may not have numpy so I'd prefer not to use it. Similarly, a list-of-tuples using standard python syntax. >>> mylist = [(0,0) for i in xrange(100000000) but this method uses way too much memory (>4GB for 100 million items, compared to 1.5GB for numpy method). Since I want to keep the two elements together during a sort, I *can't* use array.array. >>> mylist = [array.array('i',xrange(100000000)), >>> array.array('i',xrange(100000000))] If I knew the size in advance, I could use ctypes arrays. >>> from ctypes import * >>> class myStruct(Structure): >>> _fields_ = [('x',c_int),('y',c_int)] >>> mylist_type = myStruct * 100000000 >>> mylist = mylist_type() but I don't know that size (and it can vary between 1 million-200 million), so preallocating doesn't seem to be an option. Is there a python standard library way of creating *efficient* 2-dimensional lists/arrays, still allowing me to sort and append? Thanks! -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list