What are the benchmarks for the Counter class in Python's collections module?

What are the benchmarks for the Counter class in Python's collections module?

The Counter class in Python's collections module is optimized for counting hashable objects. Benchmarks show it performs well for large datasets, especially in terms of speed and memory efficiency.

Can you provide some specific performance metrics?

Sure! For example, creating a Counter from a list of 1 million elements takes about 0.1 seconds, and accessing the count of an element is O(1) on average.

How does it compare to using a dictionary for counting?

Using a dictionary for counting can be slightly slower due to the need for manual implementation of counting logic. The Counter class is specifically optimized for this purpose.

Are there any limitations to using Counter?

Yes, while Counter is efficient, it may consume more memory than a simple dictionary for small datasets. Also, it doesn't handle unhashable types.