OrderedDict vs defaultdict vs dict [closed]

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There is not one single answer and not one true and only dict. Among many variables, it depends on:

  1. Size of the data set;
  2. Number of unique keys vs the number of duplicate keys in the set of data mappings;
  3. Speed of the underlying factory for defaultdict;
  4. Speed of OrderDict vs some later ordering step;
  5. Version of Python.

I am loathe to generalize, but here are some generalities:

  1. The statement This technique is simpler and faster than an equivalent technique using dict.setdefault() is just flat wrong. It depends on the data;
  2. setdefault is faster and simpler with small data sets;
  3. defaultdict is faster for larger data sets with more homogenous key sets (ie, how short the dict is after adding elements);
  4. setdefault has an advantage with more heterogeneous key sets;
  5. these results are different for Python 3 vs Python 2;
  6. OrderedDict is slower in all cases other than an algorithm that depends on order and order is not easy to reconstruct or sort;
  7. Python 3 is generally faster for most dict operations;
  8. Python 3.6’s dict is now ordered by insertion order (reducing the usefulness of OrderedDict).

The only truth: It Depends! All three technique are useful.

Here is some timing code to show:

from __future__ import print_function
from collections import defaultdict
from collections import OrderedDict

try:
    t=unichr(100)
except NameError:
    unichr=chr

def f1(li):
    '''defaultdict'''
    d = defaultdict(list)
    for k, v in li:
        d[k].append(v)
    return d.items()

def f2(li):
    '''setdefault'''
    d={}
    for k, v in li:
        d.setdefault(k, []).append(v)
    return d.items()

def f3(li):
    '''OrderedDict'''
    d=OrderedDict()
    for k, v in li:
        d.setdefault(k, []).append(v)
    return d.items()      


if __name__ == '__main__':
    import timeit
    import sys
    print(sys.version)
    few=[('yellow', 1), ('blue', 2), ('yellow', 3), ('blue', 4), ('red', 1)]
    fmt="{:>12}: {:10.2f} micro sec/call ({:,} elements, {:,} keys)"
    for tag, m, n in [('small',5,10000), ('medium',20,1000), ('bigger',1000,100), ('large',5000,10)]:
        for f in [f1,f2,f3]:
            s = few*m
            res=timeit.timeit("{}(s)".format(f.__name__), setup="from __main__ import {}, s".format(f.__name__), number=n)
            st=fmt.format(f.__doc__, res/n*1000000, len(s), len(f(s)))
            print(st)
            s = [(unichr(i%0x10000),i) for i in range(1,len(s)+1)]
            res=timeit.timeit("{}(s)".format(f.__name__), setup="from __main__ import {}, s".format(f.__name__), number=n)
            st=fmt.format(f.__doc__, res/n*1000000, len(s), len(f(s)))
            print(st)            
        print()

Python 2.7 result:

2.7.5 (default, Aug 25 2013, 00:04:04) 
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 5.0 (clang-500.0.68)]
 defaultdict:      10.20 micro sec/call (25 elements, 3 keys)
 defaultdict:      21.08 micro sec/call (25 elements, 25 keys)
  setdefault:      13.41 micro sec/call (25 elements, 3 keys)
  setdefault:      18.24 micro sec/call (25 elements, 25 keys)
 OrderedDict:      49.47 micro sec/call (25 elements, 3 keys)
 OrderedDict:     102.16 micro sec/call (25 elements, 25 keys)

 defaultdict:      28.28 micro sec/call (100 elements, 3 keys)
 defaultdict:      79.78 micro sec/call (100 elements, 100 keys)
  setdefault:      45.68 micro sec/call (100 elements, 3 keys)
  setdefault:      68.66 micro sec/call (100 elements, 100 keys)
 OrderedDict:     117.78 micro sec/call (100 elements, 3 keys)
 OrderedDict:     343.17 micro sec/call (100 elements, 100 keys)

 defaultdict:    1123.60 micro sec/call (5,000 elements, 3 keys)
 defaultdict:    4250.44 micro sec/call (5,000 elements, 5,000 keys)
  setdefault:    2089.86 micro sec/call (5,000 elements, 3 keys)
  setdefault:    3803.03 micro sec/call (5,000 elements, 5,000 keys)
 OrderedDict:    4399.16 micro sec/call (5,000 elements, 3 keys)
 OrderedDict:   16279.14 micro sec/call (5,000 elements, 5,000 keys)

 defaultdict:    5609.39 micro sec/call (25,000 elements, 3 keys)
 defaultdict:   25351.60 micro sec/call (25,000 elements, 25,000 keys)
  setdefault:   10267.00 micro sec/call (25,000 elements, 3 keys)
  setdefault:   24091.51 micro sec/call (25,000 elements, 25,000 keys)
 OrderedDict:   22091.98 micro sec/call (25,000 elements, 3 keys)
 OrderedDict:   94028.00 micro sec/call (25,000 elements, 25,000 keys)

Python 3.3 result:

3.3.2 (default, May 21 2013, 11:50:47) 
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple Clang 4.1 ((tags/Apple/clang-421.11.66))]
 defaultdict:       8.58 micro sec/call (25 elements, 3 keys)
 defaultdict:      21.18 micro sec/call (25 elements, 25 keys)
  setdefault:      10.42 micro sec/call (25 elements, 3 keys)
  setdefault:      14.58 micro sec/call (25 elements, 25 keys)
 OrderedDict:      45.43 micro sec/call (25 elements, 3 keys)
 OrderedDict:      92.69 micro sec/call (25 elements, 25 keys)

 defaultdict:      20.47 micro sec/call (100 elements, 3 keys)
 defaultdict:      77.48 micro sec/call (100 elements, 100 keys)
  setdefault:      34.22 micro sec/call (100 elements, 3 keys)
  setdefault:      54.86 micro sec/call (100 elements, 100 keys)
 OrderedDict:     107.37 micro sec/call (100 elements, 3 keys)
 OrderedDict:     318.98 micro sec/call (100 elements, 100 keys)

 defaultdict:     714.70 micro sec/call (5,000 elements, 3 keys)
 defaultdict:    3892.92 micro sec/call (5,000 elements, 5,000 keys)
  setdefault:    1502.91 micro sec/call (5,000 elements, 3 keys)
  setdefault:    2888.08 micro sec/call (5,000 elements, 5,000 keys)
 OrderedDict:    3912.95 micro sec/call (5,000 elements, 3 keys)
 OrderedDict:   14863.02 micro sec/call (5,000 elements, 5,000 keys)

 defaultdict:    3649.02 micro sec/call (25,000 elements, 3 keys)
 defaultdict:   22313.17 micro sec/call (25,000 elements, 25,000 keys)
  setdefault:    7447.28 micro sec/call (25,000 elements, 3 keys)
  setdefault:   18426.88 micro sec/call (25,000 elements, 25,000 keys)
 OrderedDict:   19202.17 micro sec/call (25,000 elements, 3 keys)
 OrderedDict:   85946.45 micro sec/call (25,000 elements, 25,000 keys)

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