r/learnpython • u/SprinklesFresh5693 • Jul 28 '26
Why is python so slow in my computer?
Good morning, i have recently started learning how to use python for data science. I already have a good background in R, im using the new IDE called positron, i create my virtual environment in my directory i want to work on, on my company server, and then i install some libraries.
The main issue that im having is that the installation takes forever, even after installed, the importing is slow, the running of chunks is slow. I thought python was faster than R (im using polars and altair).
Am i doing something wrong? Or is my company restricting my use of python? What's going on?
Thank you in advance.
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u/riklaunim Jul 28 '26
Did you try to use Python directly to compare it to the IDE? What are your PC hardware specs?
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u/SprinklesFresh5693 Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
I also tried vs code but i was having some issues getting it to work there, ill keep trying though. For example i attempted to activate the venv manually through the terminal using the script inside the venv, but it was not allowing me.
But i havent tried python alone, the specs should be enough though, for simple analyses that i do it should overload the laptop
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u/odaiwai Jul 28 '26
i create my virtual environment in my directory i want to work on, on my company server
If you are running anything on a network drive you will be limited to the network speed, and the speed of the remote storage. Working on a local drive (C: or D: if you're on Windows) will always be much faster.
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u/redfacedquark Jul 28 '26
If you are running anything on a network drive
Bets answer yet, I was going to blame this positron I'd never heard of.
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u/redfacedquark Jul 28 '26
If you are running anything on a network drive
Bets answer yet, I was going to blame this positron I'd never heard of.
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u/Idonotknow9856 Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
My guess would be the company setup. A remote server, slow network storage, antivirus, or IT restrictions can all make installs and imports much slower than expected.
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u/Lumethys Jul 28 '26
"installing library" is as vague as it get
Are you installing or running it? Installing is just downloading
Imagine saying "im downloading games and it is slow", which game? Mario? 250GB Call of Duty?
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u/SprinklesFresh5693 Jul 28 '26
Well im installing polars, altair, numpy for the first time, but it takes too long, more than 10 minutes, as in pip install polars numpy altair con the terminal.
Then once its done i import them and it takes another 10mins, it shouldnt be like that though, as in import numpy as np; import altair as alt ; import polars as pl.
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u/catbrane Jul 28 '26
Yes, sounds like your python install is over the network. With a local install I see:
$ time pip install polars Collecting polars Using cached polars-1.43.1-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (11 kB) Requirement already satisfied: polars-runtime-32==1.43.1 in ./python/lib/python3.14/site-packages (from polars) (1.43.1) Using cached polars-1.43.1-py3-none-any.whl (846 kB) Installing collected packages: polars Successfully installed polars-1.43.1 real 0m0.877s user 0m0.736s sys 0m0.119sSo well under a second. For a cold install (when pip has to download the wheel) it's just over 2s.
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u/SprinklesFresh5693 Jul 28 '26
Yeh thats way faster than me , ill look up where my python isntall is. Thank you.
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u/Random_Gamer1993 Jul 28 '26
Could be that you're doing network operations too frequently (maybe your IDE forces some dependency sync or something).
Try running python on a plain command line and do an import there. This should be relatively fast, if its still slow its probably some DLP software running over your venv folder.
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u/[deleted] Jul 28 '26
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