Group items tagged

 > According to the fact that all Thread run on the same CPU (if i didn't  > understand wrong), i'm asking if python will suffer from the future  > multicore CPU. Will not python use only one core, then a half or a  > quarter of CPU ? It could be a serious problem for the future of python... I agree that it could potentially be a serious hindrance for cpython if "multiple core" CPUs become commonplace. This is in contrast to jython and ironpython, both of which support multiple-cpu parallelism. Although I completely accept the usual arguments offered in defense of the GIL, i.e. that it isn't a problem in the great majority of use cases, I think that position will become more difficult to defend as desktop CPUs sprout more and more execution pipelines. I think that this also fits in with AM Kuchling's recent musing/thesis/prediction that the existing cpython VM may no longer be in use in 5 years, and that it may be superceded by python "interpreters" running on top of other VMs, namely the JVM, the CLR, Smalltalk VM, Parrot, etc, etc, etc. http://www.amk.ca/diary/archives/cat_python.html#003382 I too agree with Andrew's basic position: the Python language needs a period of library consolidation. There is so much duplication of functionality out there, with the situation only getting worse as people re-invent the wheel yet again using newer features such generators, gen-exps and decorators.

> Is there a way to find the number of processors on a machine (on linux/ > windows/macos/cygwin) using python code (using the same code/cross > platform code)? From processing <http://cheeseshop.python.org/pypi/processing/0.34> : def cpuCount():     '''     Returns the number of CPUs in the system     '''     if sys.platform == 'win32':         try:             num = int(os.environ['NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS'])         except (ValueError, KeyError):             pass     elif sys.platform == 'darwin':         try:             num = int(os.popen('sysctl -n hw.ncpu').read())         except ValueError:             pass     else:         try:             num = os.sysconf('SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN')         except (ValueError, OSError, AttributeError):             pass     if num >= 1:         return num     else:         raise NotImplementedError --

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 8:22 PM, Reckoner <recko...@gmail.com> wrote: > is there a unit step (heaviside) function in sympy? > I need to work a conditional into a symbolic expression. We have sign which is basically the same thing: