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  Python Patterns - An Optimization Anecdote

The other day, a friend asked me a seemingly simple question: what's the best way to convert a list of integers into a string, presuming that the integers are ASCII values. For instance, the list [97, 98, 99] should be converted to the string 'abc'. Let's assume we want to write a function to do this. The first version I came up with was totally straightforward: def f1(list): string = "" for item in list: string = string + chr(item) return string ...

   Python,Optimization,Anecdote,Loopup,ASCII     2011-12-18 10:52:49

  A Solution to CPU-intensive Tasks in IO Loops

Back in October 2011, Ted Dziuba infamously said that Node.js is Cancer.  A provocative title to a provocative article.  The only thing it didn’t really provoke in the commentary was much thought ;)  Zing. My interpretation of the article is that Ted holds up the classic blocking-IO process-per-request (or  thread per request; same difference) model as superior.  Yet we all remember where the blocking-IO forking model got Apache in the early days.  ...

   CPU,Intensive IO loops,Solution,C++     2012-02-06 07:42:40

  Why accessing Java HashMap may cause infinite loop in concurrent environment

HashMap in Java is frequently used to handle key/value pairs. But it is not a good candidate to be used in concurrent environment where ConcurrentHashMap should be used instead. If used in concurrent environment, it may cause lots of unexpected behavior even including make the program getting into an infinite loop situation. To understand how this can happen, let's first discuss how HaspMap works internally. In this post we will use implementation of HashMap before Java 8 as example, Java 8 prov...

   JAVA,HASHMAP,INFINITE LOOP     2020-03-29 01:47:00

  Traditional recursion vs Tail recursion

Recursion is a frequently adopted pattern for solving some sort of algorithm problems which need to divide and conquer a big issue and solve the smaller but the same issue first. For example, calculating fibonacci  accumulating sum and calculating factorials. In these kinds of issues, recursion is more straightforward than their loop counterpart. Furthermore, recursion may need less code and looks more concise. For example, let's calculate sum of a set of numbers starting with 0 and st...

   ALGORITHM,RECURSION,TAIL RECURSION,TRADITIONAL RECURSION     2016-09-23 23:54:09

  Sort an array with only one local variable

Array sorting algorithm question is frequently asked during technical interviews. There are lots of sort algorithms including bubble sort, selection sort, insertion sort, quick sort, merge sort etc. Usually interviewees will be asked to implement sort algorithms. But have you ever been asked to sort an array which you are allowed to define ONLY ONE local variable in your algorithm?  Bubble sort can be used to do this actually. Normally a bubble sort algorithm may need three local ...

   JAVASCRIPT,ALGORITHM,SORTING,BUBBLE SORT     2016-10-07 09:46:49

  Tips for improving PHP efficiency

0. Using single quote to replace double quote to enclose string literal, this will be a bit faster. Because PHP engine will search variables in double quoted string. 1. If a method in class can be declared as static, then make it static, this will be 4 times faster. 2. $row["id"] is 7 times faster than $row[id] 3. echo is faster than print, and you should use multiple parameters instead of string concatenation, i.e use comma(,) instead of dot(.) to concatenate string. For example echo $str1,$str...

   PHP, efficiency, tips     2012-10-01 19:39:06

  Paradigms of Iteration in JavaScript

One of the joys of programming is that no matter how simple a problem may seem there are always tons of ways to solve it. It can be good practice to go back and revisit fundamentals by solving simple problems with as many implementations as you can think of. In this post we'll explore approaches to basic iteration in JavaScript. This style of exercise is a good interviewing technique, too, because it's open ended and leads to good discussions. The focus isn't a tricky, wacky problem you're...

   JavaScript,Iteration,Wrap,Recursive,For,Loop     2012-01-08 10:11:15

  Permutation implementation in Java

Permutation is a very basic and important mathematic concept we learned in school. It has very practical applications in real world. For example, in football. In simple, permutation describes all possible ways of doing something. For example, there are six permutations of the set {1,2,3}, namely: (1,2,3), (1,3,2), (2,1,3), (2,3,1), (3,1,2), and (3,2,1). In general, for n items, there are n! number of permutations to arrange these items. How can we implement this algorithm in programming programm...

   Permutation,Implementation,Java,Sample     2015-03-26 02:18:14

  Deep Dive into Spin Locks in Golang

In concurrent programming, a Mutex is a commonly used synchronization mechanism to protect critical resources and prevent data races. However, in certain specific scenarios, especially when the lock-holding time is short and the number of threads is limited, a more lightweight lock known as a Spin Lock can provide higher performance. What is a Spin Lock A Spin Lock is a form of busy-wait lock. When a thread attempts to acquire a lock held by another thread, it continuously checks the lock's stat...

   SPINLOCK,MUTEX,GOLANG     2024-01-10 05:53:28

  What and what not to log while debugging

Log is a critical part of an application. It serves as an eye to the programmer on how the application is working while debugging. Especially for applications running on production environment, if the application encounters problem and the problem cannot be reproduced on other environments, log will be extremely useful. While log is essential, but developers have to log smartly. Because if don't put log smartly, you may not get what you want while debugging or you may get too many...

   PROGRAMMING,DEBUG,LOG,SUPPORT     2016-03-14 08:09:03

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