Speed: Default value vs checking for None

Python's dict has a get method. It'll either return an existing value for a given key or return a default value if the key is not in the dict. It's very tempting to write code like val = d.get(key, Object()), however you need to think about the performance implications. Since function arguments are evaluated before calling the function, this means the a new Object will be created regardless if it's in the dict or not. Let's see this affects performance.

get_default will create new Point every time and get_none will create only if there's no such object, it works since or evaluate it's arguments lazily and will stop once the first one is True.

First we'll try with a missing key:

In [1]: %run default_vs_none.py                                     
In [2]: locations = {}  # name -> Location 
In [3]: %timeit get_default(locations, 'carmen')
384 ns ± 2.56 ns per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 1000000 loops each)
In [4]: %timeit get_none(locations, 'carmen')
394 ns ± 1.61 ns per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 1000000 loops each)

Not so much difference. However if the key exists:

In [5]: locations['carmen'] = Location(7, 3)

In [6]: %timeit get_default(locations, 'carmen')                 

377 ns ± 1.84 ns per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 1000000 loops each)

In [7]: %timeit get_none(locations, 'carmen')

135 ns ± 0.108 ns per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 10000000 loops each)

We get much faster results.

Go's append vs copy

When we'd like to concatenates slices in Go, most people usually reach out for append. Most of the time this solution is OK, however if you need to squeeze more performance - copy will be better.

EDIT: As Henrik Johansson suggested, if you pre-allocate the slice to append it'll fast as well.