Comments on: marshal, Your Best Friend in the Python Universe http://www.answermysearches.com/marshal-your-best-friend-in-the-python-universe/66/ Answers to everything I search for, every day Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:57:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Greg Pinero (Primary Searcher) http://www.answermysearches.com/marshal-your-best-friend-in-the-python-universe/66/comment-page-1/#comment-172 Greg Pinero (Primary Searcher) Wed, 22 Mar 2006 01:27:32 +0000 http://www.answermysearches.com/index.php/marshal-your-best-friend-in-the-python-universe/66/#comment-172 I prefer marshal over pickle because I've always gotten a huge speed boost from it. Pickle seems quite slow to me, and it seemed unusable for large data storage (yes, I even tried the proto option). I think marshal calls are easier for me to type but I don't remember pickle syntax offhand. I prefer marshal over pickle because I’ve always gotten a huge speed boost from it. Pickle seems quite slow to me, and it seemed unusable for large data storage (yes, I even tried the proto option).

I think marshal calls are easier for me to type but I don’t remember pickle syntax offhand.

]]> By: Peter Bengtsson http://www.answermysearches.com/marshal-your-best-friend-in-the-python-universe/66/comment-page-1/#comment-171 Peter Bengtsson Wed, 22 Mar 2006 00:52:28 +0000 http://www.answermysearches.com/index.php/marshal-your-best-friend-in-the-python-universe/66/#comment-171 I suggest you have a look at my optimization story when I discovered marshal as a "replacement" to cPickle: http://www.peterbe.com/plog/python-optimization-anecdote I suggest you have a look at my optimization story when I discovered marshal as a “replacement” to cPickle:
http://www.peterbe.com/plog/python-optimization-anecdote

]]> By: Bob Ippolito http://www.answermysearches.com/marshal-your-best-friend-in-the-python-universe/66/comment-page-1/#comment-170 Bob Ippolito Wed, 22 Mar 2006 00:35:33 +0000 http://www.answermysearches.com/index.php/marshal-your-best-friend-in-the-python-universe/66/#comment-170 marshal has two pretty big caveats: the serialization can change in any minor version of Python, and it only supports a limited set of primitive data structures. The only time I've really seen marshal used intentionally is to manipulate .pyc files without going through the normal import code path (pyc files are just a marshal of a module). Pickle on the other hand can serialize anything you teach it to, and the format is well specified and stays compatible across versions of Python. marshal has two pretty big caveats: the serialization can change in any minor version of Python, and it only supports a limited set of primitive data structures.

The only time I’ve really seen marshal used intentionally is to manipulate .pyc files without going through the normal import code path (pyc files are just a marshal of a module).

Pickle on the other hand can serialize anything you teach it to, and the format is well specified and stays compatible across versions of Python.

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