🔒 Is bytearray more space efficient than int?

[green haven]

I am asking because I am trying to choose one for representing some data in my class and i want it to be space efficient.
I setup a small experiment and compared the sizes of the two datatypes at different sizes, on the range I plan to work on: 5-50 bytes, it seems that they are equal in size, only short by 1 byte. Only in the ranges of beyond 100 bytes does it seem to catch up and outcompete the integer datatype:

[rocky ginkgo]

@green haven

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[green haven]

so the reasonable outcome would be that under 100 bytes, it doesn't really matter, whether one uses integer or a bytearray.

or?

[raven scaffold]

a bytearray should be more efficient than a list of integers, but that should not matter for any practical use cases

• if you are working with large amounts of data, use numpy instead of python built-in/standard library types

• if you are working in an extremely restricted environment like micro controllers, use a low level language like C++ or Rust instead of Python

[nocturne onyx]

do you mean using a single very large integer vs a bytearray?

Internally (in CPython), an integer is an array of 30-bit digits. But each digit actually occupies 32 bits, so for very large numbers it should be about 7% less memory-efficient than bytearray
https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/2c451489122d539080c8d674b391dedc1dedcb53/Include/cpython/longintrepr.h#L64-L101

that is, if you're just using it to store bits and not do any arithmetic

[raven scaffold]

(that said, if that sort of difference matters for your use case, then python may be the wrong tool for whatever your're doing)

[nocturne onyx]

The usual answer is: if it matters to you, measure it. If you don't want to measure, it doesn't matter enough 🙂

[green haven]

than list of integers? i see, i was comparing to integer itself

[green haven]

thank you

[green haven]

made a plot, since i was curious:

left is difference in bytes

bottom is size in bytes

[nocturne onyx]

a lot of programs use 5-50 byte integers in a bunch of places... whether the small win in memory matters to you will depend on your particular program

[green haven]

i see, thanks

in my case it wouldn't really go beyond 50 nevertheless 100, so it should be okay

anyway, thanks, actually helped me a lot @nocturne onyx

!close

[rocky ginkgo]

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