Python Performance Part 1: Transforming Large Lists into Seperate Smaller Lists

Goal

Write a fast Python script that will take a large list and break it up into smaller sub-lists based on a set size; such as transforming [a,b,c,d,e,f] into [[a,b],[c,d],[e,f]].

Attempt 1: Map/Reduce (0.93s)

#import a list of 247,213 integers
from oids import oids

def pre(a):
    return (list(), a, 0)

def make_sets(a,b):
    set_size = 8
    if a[2] == set_size - 1 or a[0] == list():
        a[0].append([a[1]])
        return (a[0],b[1],0)
    else:
        a[0][-1].append(a[1])
        return (a[0],b[1],a[2]+1)

reduce(make_sets,map(pre,oids))

Times

real    0m0.935s
user    0m0.896s
sys     0m0.032s

real    0m0.948s
user    0m0.920s
sys     0m0.028s

real    0m0.929s
user    0m0.900s
sys     0m0.024s

Attempt 2: For-loop (0.41s)

from oids import oids

output = list()
count = 0
set_size = 8
for oid in oids:
    if count == set_size or output == list():
        output.append([oid])
        count = 0
    else:
        output[-1].append(oid)
        count = count + 1

Times

real    0m0.429s
user    0m0.404s
sys     0m0.024s

real    0m0.396s
user    0m0.384s
sys     0m0.012s

real    0m0.410s
user    0m0.396s
sys     0m0.012s

Attempt 3: Map (0.48s)

from oids import oids

output = list()
set_size = 8
count = [0]

def break_apart(a):
    if count[-1] == set_size or output == list():
        output.append([a])
        count.append(0)
    else:
        output[-1].append(a)
        count.append(count[-1] + 1)

map(break_apart,oids)

Timing

real    0m0.484s
user    0m0.476s
sys     0m0.012s

real    0m0.483s
user    0m0.464s
sys     0m0.016s

real    0m0.482s
user    0m0.452s
sys     0m0.028s

Attempt 4: Reduce (0.34s)

from oids import oids

def seperate(a,b,length=8):
    try:
        if len(a[-1]) == length:
            a.append([b])
            return a
        else:
            a[-1].append(b)
            return a
    except:
        return [[a,b]]

oids = reduce(seperate,oids)

Timing

real    0m0.323s
user    0m0.308s
sys     0m0.016s

real    0m0.329s
user    0m0.300s
sys     0m0.028s

real    0m0.353s
user    0m0.332s
sys     0m0.020s