What is the Global Interpreter Lock (GIL) in Python and how does it affect data science?

What is the Global Interpreter Lock (GIL) in Python?

The Global Interpreter Lock (GIL) is a mutex that protects access to Python objects, preventing multiple threads from executing Python bytecodes simultaneously.

How does the GIL affect data science applications?

The GIL can limit the performance of CPU-bound data science tasks in multi-threaded programs, as only one thread can execute at a time.

Are there ways to work around the GIL in data science?

Yes, you can use multiprocessing instead of threading, or leverage libraries like NumPy that release the GIL during heavy computations.

What are the implications of GIL for machine learning models?

For machine learning, the GIL can slow down training processes if using threads, so it's often better to use parallel processing with multiple processes.