[erlang-questions] list vs binary performarnce, destructuring and consing

[Loïc Hoguin]

On 10/23/2012 10:50 AM, Motiejus Jakštys wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 9:07 AM, Martynas Pumputis <martynasp@REDACTED> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Could you show the exact steps of your simulation? Binary version should be
>> faster, because some extra memory allocation is avoided per each iteration
>> and large binaries aren't being copied.
>>
>> Take a look at:
>> http://www.erlang.org/doc/efficiency_guide/binaryhandling.html
>>
>
> I tried that last night and was surprised, so will share.
>
> Benchmark script:
> https://gist.github.com/3937666
>
> Session:
> 1> t:bench().
> Creating str of size 1048576.. done.
> Converting to binary.. done.
> Executing STR copy 30 times... done.
> Executing BIN copy 30 times... done.
> BIN: Mean:   139461.1, stdev:   7829.9
> STR: Mean:    79089.4, stdev:  53349.0
>
> No matter how hard I try, I cannot outperform lists.
>
> R15B02, 32-bit Linux.

Please try with the module t compiled with the native option.

Also the answer to "why binary" is generally either "because unicode" or 
"because memory", not "lol speed". But it would be good if "lol speed" 
could be improved eventually.

-- 
Loïc Hoguin
Erlang Cowboy
Nine Nines
http://ninenines.eu