Performance enhancement of the turtle module
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- Dominant language
- Python
- Stars
- 77.2k
- Forks
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Description
Feature or enhancement
Proposal:
The original implementation of turtle.RawTurtle._goto:
def _goto(self, end):
"""Move the pen to the point end, thereby drawing a line
if pen is down. All other methods for turtle movement depend
on this one.
"""
## Version with undo-stuff
go_modes = ( self._drawing,
self._pencolor,
self._pensize,
isinstance(self._fillpath, list))
screen = self.screen
undo_entry = ("go", self._position, end, go_modes,
(self.currentLineItem,
self.currentLine[:],
screen._pointlist(self.currentLineItem),
self.items[:])
)
if self.undobuffer:
self.undobuffer.push(undo_entry)
start = self._position
if self._speed and screen._tracing == 1:
diff = (end-start)
diffsq = (diff[0]*screen.xscale)**2 + (diff[1]*screen.yscale)**2
nhops = 1+int((diffsq**0.5)/(3*(1.1**self._speed)*self._speed))
delta = diff * (1.0/nhops)
for n in range(1, nhops):
if n == 1:
top = True
else:
top = False
self._position = start + delta * n
if self._drawing:
screen._drawline(self.drawingLineItem,
(start, self._position),
self._pencolor, self._pensize, top)
self._update()
if self._drawing:
screen._drawline(self.drawingLineItem, ((0, 0), (0, 0)),
fill="", width=self._pensize) # ---- calls _drawline(), causing the time complexity to be O(n**2) ----
# Turtle now at end,
if self._drawing: # now update currentLine
self.currentLine.append(end)
if isinstance(self._fillpath, list):
self._fillpath.append(end)
###### vererbung!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
self._position = end
if self._creatingPoly:
self._poly.append(end)
if len(self.currentLine) > 42: # ---- hard-coded ----
self._newLine()
self._update() #count=True)
The hard-coded number 42 performs well on my Ubuntu, but it seriously lowers the frame rate of complicated turtle programs on Windows. According to my own FPS test, the number 320 performs best on Windows.
On the other hand, the TurtleScreenBase._drawline method:
def _drawline(self, lineitem, coordlist=None,
fill=None, width=None, top=False):
"""Configure lineitem according to provided arguments:
coordlist is sequence of coordinates
fill is drawing color
width is width of drawn line.
top is a boolean value, which specifies if polyitem
will be put on top of the canvas' displaylist so it
will not be covered by other items.
"""
if coordlist is not None:
cl = []
for x, y in coordlist: # ---- Repeats converting data ----
cl.append(x * self.xscale)
cl.append(-y * self.yscale)
self.cv.coords(lineitem, *cl)
if fill is not None:
self.cv.itemconfigure(lineitem, fill=fill)
if width is not None:
self.cv.itemconfigure(lineitem, width=width)
if top:
self.cv.tag_raise(lineitem)
The current time complexity is O(n**2). With some data preprocessed in _goto method, the performance can be further optimized.
From my perspective, the turtle module could be an excellent substitute for original tkinter.Canvas if it were optimized significantly.
Additionally, this proposal originally comes from my own project's source code.
Has this already been discussed elsewhere?
No response given
Links to previous discussion of this feature:
No response
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Review turtle.RawTurtle._goto and TurtleScreenBase._drawline, focusing on the repeated line updates and coordinate conversion described in the proposal. Establish a representative FPS benchmark across platforms and verify that any optimization preserves drawing, undo, and turtle behavior. Done means measurable performance improvement without regressions.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- performance
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100