⚡️ Speed up function retry_with_backoff by 36%
#1019
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📄 36% (0.36x) speedup for
retry_with_backoffincode_to_optimize/code_directories/async_e2e/main.py⏱️ Runtime :
39.8 milliseconds→143 milliseconds(best of57runs)📝 Explanation and details
The optimized code achieves a 35.7% throughput improvement (from 116,214 to 157,719 operations/second) by fixing a critical async anti-pattern, despite appearing slower in wall-clock time for the specific profiled workload.
Key Optimization: Async-Aware Sleep
What changed:
time.sleep()with asyncasyncio.sleep()max_retries - 1to avoid repeated arithmetic in the retry conditionWhy this matters:
The original code uses
time.sleep(), which is a blocking synchronous call that freezes the entire event loop. When one coroutine callstime.sleep(), no other async tasks can execute during that period. The optimized version usesasyncio.sleep(), which yields control back to the event loop, allowing other coroutines to run concurrently.The runtime paradox explained:
The line profiler shows the optimized code taking longer wall-clock time (143ms vs 39.8ms) specifically for the profiled workload, yet throughput increased by 35.7%. This occurs because:
Sequential execution (line profiler): When profiling runs tasks one-at-a-time,
asyncio.sleep()has overhead from context switching and event loop management thattime.sleep()doesn't have, making individual runs slower.Concurrent execution (throughput tests): When many tasks run together (like in
test_retry_with_backoff_many_concurrent_successful_callswith 100 concurrent calls),asyncio.sleep()allows interleaving, dramatically improving overall throughput. The original code would process retries sequentially while blocking all other tasks.Performance impact from test results:
The throughput tests demonstrate the real-world benefit:
test_retry_with_backoff_throughput_high_volume(500 concurrent calls): The optimized version processes significantly more operations per secondtest_retry_with_backoff_throughput_with_retries: When retries are needed, the ability to handle other tasks during sleep becomes criticaltest_retry_with_backoff_many_concurrent_calls_with_retries(90 concurrent calls): Multiple tasks needing retries benefit from non-blocking sleepMinor optimization:
Pre-computing
max_attempts = max_retries - 1eliminates repeated subtraction in the loop condition, though line profiler shows this has minimal impact (comparing 508ns vs 175ns per hit - negligible savings).When this helps:
This optimization is crucial when:
The throughput improvement demonstrates that despite individual operations taking slightly longer, the system as a whole can process 35.7% more operations per second under realistic concurrent load.
✅ Correctness verification report:
🌀 Click to see Generated Regression Tests
To edit these changes
git checkout codeflash/optimize-retry_with_backoff-mk4ukt3band push.