Benchmark for empty lists

benchmark.py

import argparse


def create_data(amount=50):
    return [
        {"content": "abcdefghijkl"} for __ in range(amount)
    ]


def create_data_empty_list(amount=50):
    return [
        {"content": "abcdefghijkl", "children": []} for __ in range(amount)
    ]


def main(empty_list, iterate_empty, repeat=1000000):
    data = create_data_empty_list() if empty_list else create_data()
    for __ in range(repeat):
        for item in data:
            children = item.get("children")
            if empty_list and iterate_empty:
                [True for item_ in children]
            elif children is None:
                continue


if __name__ == "__main__":
    argparser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
    argparser.add_argument("--empty-list", action="store_true")
    argparser.add_argument("--iterate-empty", action="store_true")
    parsed_args = argparser.parse_args()
    main(
        empty_list=parsed_args.empty_list,
        iterate_empty=parsed_args.iterate_empty,
    )

Result

$ time python benchmark.py

real 0m3,172s
user 0m3,160s
sys 0m0,004s
$ time python benchmark.py --empty-list

real 0m3,351s
user 0m3,329s
sys 0m0,004s
$ time python benchmark.py --empty-list --iterate-empty

real 0m10,840s
user 0m10,802s
sys 0m0,008s