using timeit

sample_perf_test.py

# via
# https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2010-August/586080.html

import random
import timeit

with open('/usr/share/dict/words') as infile:
  words = [line.strip() for line in infile]

sample = random.sample(words, 501)

n = sample.pop()
y = random.choice(sample)

d = dict.fromkeys(sample)
s = set(sample)
f = frozenset(sample)
l = list(sample)
t = tuple(sample)

for lookup in d, s, f, l, t:
  print type(lookup).__name__, '-->', timeit.timeit(
      'n in lookup; y in lookup', 'from __main__ import lookup, n, y')