Re: [pygame] Python and Speed

[Casey Duncan <casey@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Apr 17, 2008, at 11:59 AM, Ian Mallett wrote:
[..]
> This is precisely the problem I have run into in one of my in-dev  
> games--iterating over large arrays once per frame.  Actually, it is  
> basically a collision detection algorithm--I have two arrays, both  
> containing 3D points.  The points in one array must be tested with  
> the points in the other to see how close they are.  If they are  
> close enough, there is a collision.  Naturally, this means that for  
> every point in one array, the other array must be iterated through  
> and the 3D pythagorean theorem performed to each tested point.

Note this is not the most efficient way to do this, using a  
partitioned space you may be able to avoid comparing most points with  
one another most of the time. To do this in 2D you could use quad- 
trees, in 3D you could use oct-trees. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octree

> The easiest way to do this is to find a native library that already  
> performs the operations you need.
> This seems like a rather uncommon function--I haven't found that  
> which I need.

Note ode already implements efficient 3D collision detection in naive  
code, I believe pymunk does this for 2D. pyode is a python wrapper for  
ode.

FWIW, you would get better answers to your problems by asking more  
specific questions. If you had asked "How do I make collision  
detection faster?" you would have gotten much better answers than  
asking "How do I make Python faster?".

-Casey