gistfile1.txt

from random import choice, randint
import string
import time


import sys

_PY3 = sys.version_info[0] == 3

if _PY3:
    xrange = range


def str_key(length=50, alphabet=string.ascii_letters):
    return ''.join(choice(alphabet) for _ in xrange(length))

def int_key(min=10, max=99):
    return randint(min, max)

class TimeRun():

    def __init__(self):
        # Only using setUp in order to subclass later
        # Can also specify tearDown, eachSetUp, and eachTearDown
        self.size = 160000
        self.n = 50
        self.strdict = { str_key():int_key() for _ in xrange(self.n) }
        self.strkeys = [ str_key() for _ in xrange(self.size) ]

    def str_look(self):
        d = self.strdict
        t0 = time.time()
        for key in self.strkeys:
            try:
                d[key]
            except KeyError:
                pass
        return time.time() - t0

    def str_look_get(self):
        d = self.strdict
        t0 = time.time()
        for key in self.strkeys:
            d.get(key, None)
        return time.time() - t0

if __name__ == '__main__':
    T = TimeRun()
    print "try/except:", T.str_look()
    print "get:", T.str_look_get()
    
"""
EXAMPLE RESULTS:

$ python dictlookup2.py
try/except: 0.125324010849
get: 0.026025056839

$ pypy dictlookup2.py
try/except: 0.0264270305634
get: 0.00489616394043

""