python / python/cpython

Improve performance of inherited mapping assignment slot calls

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type-feature
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Feature or enhancement

Proposal:

__setitem__ and __delitem__ share the mp_ass_subscript slot. If a Python subclass of a C mapping overrides only one of them, slot_mp_ass_subscript() is used for both operations.

For example, collections.Counter overrides __delitem__ but inherits dict.__setitem__. Assigning an item looks up the inherited wrapper_descriptor and calls it through the generic tp_call path. Since PyWrapperDescr_Type does not support vectorcall, _PyObject_MakeTpCall() and wrapperdescr_call() each create a temporary argument tuple before reaching dict's C slot.

Reproducer:

from collections import Counter
from time import perf_counter_ns

obj = Counter()

start = perf_counter_ns()
for index in range(20_000_000):
    obj[0] = index

print((perf_counter_ns() - start) / 1_000_000)

On macOS 15.7.1 arm64 with a release build of main (d856402e7176e5a03c5c578f0efc1be968be3257), using two warmups and nine alternating-order samples:

main:      1402.07 ms median (1376.93–1445.12 ms)
prototype:  859.97 ms median (846.24–902.74 ms)

The prototype calls the inherited C slot directly when lookup returns the expected unbound mapping slot wrapper, and otherwise keeps the existing call path. This reduced the benchmark time by 38.66%.

The relevant call-path files are unchanged at b062727097e997bcb900e11503d3248daac903da.

Has this already been discussed elsewhere?

This is a minor feature, which does not need previous discussion elsewhere

Links to previous discussion of this feature:

No response

Linked PRs
  • gh-156258

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First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reading the slot_mp_ass_subscript(), _PyObject_MakeTpCall(), and wrapperdescr_call() paths described in the issue, then inspect linked PR gh-156258. Done means the inherited mapping assignment path avoids temporary argument tuples while preserving the existing fallback, and the supplied Counter benchmark shows the reported improvement.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
performance
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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