import timeit
import random
 
def generate(num):
while num:
yield random.randrange(10)
num -= 1
 
def create_list(num):
numbers = []
while num:
numbers.append(random.randrange(10))
num -= 1
return numbers
print(timeit.timeit("sum(generate(999))", setup="from __main__ import generate", number=1000))
>>> 0.88098192215 #Python 2.7
>>> 1.416813850402832 #Python 3.2
print(timeit.timeit("sum(create_list(999))", setup="from __main__ import create_list", number=1000))
>>> 0.924163103104 #Python 2.7
>>> 1.5026731491088867 #Python 3.2

import timeit
from ctypes import cdll
 
def generate_c(num):
#Load standard C library
libc = cdll.LoadLibrary("libc.so.6") #Linux
#libc = cdll.msvcrt #Windows
while num:
yield libc.rand() % 10
num -= 1
 
print(timeit.timeit("sum(generate_c(999))", setup="from __main__ import generate_c", number=1000))
>>> 0.434374809265 #Python 2.7
>>> 0.7084300518035889 #Python 3.2

sudo pip install cython

#cython_generator.pyx
import random
 
def generate(num):
while num:
yield random.randrange(10)
num -= 1

from distutils.core import setup
from distutils.extension import Extension
from Cython.Distutils import build_ext
 
setup(
cmdclass = {'build_ext': build_ext},
ext_modules = [Extension("generator", ["cython_generator.pyx"])]
)

python setup.py build_ext --inplace

import timeit
print(timeit.timeit("sum(generator.generate(999))", setup="import generator", number=1000))
>>> 0.835658073425

#cython_generator.pyx
cdef extern from "stdlib.h":
int c_libc_rand "rand"()
 
def generate(int num):
while num:
yield c_libc_rand() % 10
num -= 1

>>> 0.033586025238

import timeit
import random
 
def generate(num):
while num:
yield random.randrange(10)
num -= 1
 
def create_list(num):
numbers = []
while num:
numbers.append(random.randrange(10))
num -= 1
return numbers
print(timeit.timeit("sum(generate(999))", setup="from __main__ import generate", number=1000))
>>> 0.115154981613 #PyPy 1.9
>>> 0.118431091309 #PyPy 2.0b1
print(timeit.timeit("sum(create_list(999))", setup="from __main__ import create_list", number=1000))
>>> 0.140175104141 #PyPy 1.9
>>> 0.140514850616 #PyPy 2.0b1

/* functions.c */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
 
/* http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Sorting_algorithms/Merge_sort#C */
inline void
merge (int *left, int l_len, int *right, int r_len, int *out)
{
int i, j, k;
for (i = j = k = 0; i < l_len && j < r_len;)
out[k++] = left[i] < right[j] ? left[i++] : right[j++];
while (i < l_len)
out[k++] = left[i++];
while (j < r_len)
out[k++] = right[j++];
}
 
/* inner recursion of merge sort */
void
recur (int *buf, int *tmp, int len)
{
int l = len / 2;
if (len <= 1)
return;
/* note that buf and tmp are swapped */
recur (tmp, buf, l);
recur (tmp + l, buf + l, len - l);
merge (tmp, l, tmp + l, len - l, buf);
}
 
/* preparation work before recursion */
void
merge_sort (int *buf, int len)
{
/* call alloc, copy and free only once */
int *tmp = malloc (sizeof (int) * len);
memcpy (tmp, buf, sizeof (int) * len);
recur (buf, tmp, len);
free (tmp);
}
 
int
fibRec (int n)
{
if (n < 2)
return n;
else
return fibRec (n - 1) + fibRec (n - 2);
}

gcc -Wall -fPIC -c functions.c
gcc -shared -o libfunctions.so functions.o

# functions.py
 
from ctypes import *
import time
 
libfunctions = cdll.LoadLibrary("./libfunctions.so")
 
def fibRec(n):
if n < 2:
return n
else:
return fibRec(n-1) + fibRec(n-2)
 
start = time.time()
fibRec(32)
finish = time.time()
print("Python: " + str(finish - start))
 
# C Fibonacci
start = time.time()
x = libfunctions.fibRec(32)
finish = time.time()
print("C: " + str(finish - start))

#Python Merge Sort
from random import shuffle, sample
 
#Generate 9999 random numbers between 0 and 100000
numbers = sample(range(100000), 9999)
shuffle(numbers)
c_numbers = (c_int * len(numbers))(*numbers)
 
from heapq import merge
def merge_sort(m):
if len(m) <= 1:
return m
middle = len(m) // 2
left = m[:middle]
right = m[middle:]
left = merge_sort(left)
right = merge_sort(right)
return list(merge(left, right))
 
start = time.time()
numbers = merge_sort(numbers)
finish = time.time()
print("Python: " + str(finish - start))
 
#C Merge Sort
start = time.time()
libfunctions.merge_sort(byref(c_numbers), len(numbers))
finish = time.time()
print("C: " + str(finish - start))
 
Python: 0.190635919571 #Python 2.7
Python: 0.11785483360290527 #Python 3.2
Python: 0.266992092133 #PyPy 1.9
Python: 0.265724897385 #PyPy 2.0b1
C: 0.00201296806335 #Python 2.7 + ctypes
C: 0.0019741058349609375 #Python 3.2 + ctypes
C: 0.0029308795929 #PyPy 1.9 + ctypes
C: 0.00287103652954 #PyPy 2.0b1 + ctypes