Comparison of membership check speeds in lists vs sets

# Comparison of membership check speeds in lists vs sets
# by @CodingComputing

# Run this in a Jupyter Notebook

# CELL 1 (setup stuff)
import timeit
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
sizes = 10 ** np.arange(8)  # Different container sizes to time
container_names = ("list", "set")

# CELL 2 (compare across different sizes)
size_times_df = pd.DataFrame(columns=container_names)
# Measure time for membership checks for different sizes
for size in sizes:
    test_containers = {
        'list': list(range(size)),
        'set': set(range(size))
    }
    target = np.floor(size/2)  # Choose middle element as target
    for container in test_containers:
        exec_time = timeit.Timer(
            f'{target} in test_containers["{container}"]',
            globals=globals()
            ).timeit(number=10)
        size_times_df.loc[size, container] = exec_time
#
size_times_df

# CELL 3 (graph for Cell 2 results)
# Plot and customization
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
size_times_df.plot(ax=ax, marker='o')
# Make log scales on axes, because our data points are magnitudes apart
ax.set_xscale('log')
ax.set_yscale('log')
ax.set_xlabel('Container Size', size=12)
ax.set_ylabel('Membership check time\n(for middle element)', size=12)
ax.set_title('Comparison of Membership Check Times\nin lists vs sets')
ax

# CELL 4 (compare across target positions)
# Measure membership check times for different positions within the list
# keeping container size constant
size = 10_000_000
positions = [0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1]
pos_times_df = pd.DataFrame(columns=container_names)
#
for pos in positions:
    target = round(size*pos)
    for container in test_containers:
        exec_time = timeit.Timer(
            f'{target} in test_containers["{container}"]',
            globals=globals()
        ).timeit(number=10)
        pos_times_df.loc[pos, container] = exec_time
#
pos_times_df

# CELL 5 (graph for Cell 4 results)
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
pos_times_df.plot(ax=ax, marker='o')
ax.set_xlabel(f'Relative Position within list\n(Container size: {size})', size=12)
ax.set_ylabel('Membership check time', size=12)
ax.set_title('Comparison of Membership Check Times\nin lists vs sets')
ax

# That's it! Follow x.com/CodingComputing for more on Python!