到目前为止，我尝试过的最快的方法是基于Python烹饪书erat2函数:

import itertools as it
def erat2a( ):
    D = {  }
    yield 2
    for q in it.islice(it.count(3), 0, None, 2):
        p = D.pop(q, None)
        if p is None:
            D[q*q] = q
            yield q
        else:
            x = q + 2*p
            while x in D:
                x += 2*p
            D[x] = p

关于加速的解释，请看下面的答案。

第一次使用python，所以我在这里使用的一些方法可能看起来有点麻烦。我只是直接将我的c++代码转换为python，这就是我所拥有的(尽管在python中有点慢)

#!/usr/bin/env python
import time

def GetPrimes(n):

    Sieve = [1 for x in xrange(n)]

    Done = False
    w = 3

    while not Done:

        for q in xrange (3, n, 2):
            Prod = w*q
            if Prod < n:
                Sieve[Prod] = 0
            else:
                break

        if w > (n/2):
            Done = True
        w += 2

    return Sieve



start = time.clock()

d = 10000000
Primes = GetPrimes(d)

count = 1 #This is for 2

for x in xrange (3, d, 2):
    if Primes[x]:
        count+=1

elapsed = (time.clock() - start)
print "\nFound", count, "primes in", elapsed, "seconds!\n"

pythonw Primes.py 在12.799119秒内找到664579个质数!

#!/usr/bin/env python
import time

def GetPrimes2(n):

    Sieve = [1 for x in xrange(n)]

    for q in xrange (3, n, 2):
        k = q
        for y in xrange(k*3, n, k*2):
            Sieve[y] = 0

    return Sieve



start = time.clock()

d = 10000000
Primes = GetPrimes2(d)

count = 1 #This is for 2

for x in xrange (3, d, 2):
    if Primes[x]:
        count+=1

elapsed = (time.clock() - start)
print "\nFound", count, "primes in", elapsed, "seconds!\n"

pythonw Primes2.py 在10.230172秒内找到664579个质数!

#!/usr/bin/env python
import time

def GetPrimes3(n):

    Sieve = [1 for x in xrange(n)]

    for q in xrange (3, n, 2):
        k = q
        for y in xrange(k*k, n, k << 1):
            Sieve[y] = 0

    return Sieve



start = time.clock()

d = 10000000
Primes = GetPrimes3(d)

count = 1 #This is for 2

for x in xrange (3, d, 2):
    if Primes[x]:
        count+=1

elapsed = (time.clock() - start)
print "\nFound", count, "primes in", elapsed, "seconds!\n"

python Primes2.py 在7.113776秒内找到664579个质数!

在Pure Python中最快的质数筛分:

from itertools import compress

def half_sieve(n):
    """
    Returns a list of prime numbers less than `n`.
    """
    if n <= 2:
        return []
    sieve = bytearray([True]) * (n // 2)
    for i in range(3, int(n ** 0.5) + 1, 2):
        if sieve[i // 2]:
            sieve[i * i // 2::i] = bytearray((n - i * i - 1) // (2 * i) + 1)
    primes = list(compress(range(1, n, 2), sieve))
    primes[0] = 2
    return primes

我优化了埃拉托色尼筛子的速度和内存。

基准

from time import clock
import platform

def benchmark(iterations, limit):
    start = clock()
    for x in range(iterations):
        half_sieve(limit)
    end = clock() - start
    print(f'{end/iterations:.4f} seconds for primes < {limit}')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    print(platform.python_version())
    print(platform.platform())
    print(platform.processor())
    it = 10
    for pw in range(4, 9):
        benchmark(it, 10**pw)

输出

>>> 3.6.7
>>> Windows-10-10.0.17763-SP0
>>> Intel64 Family 6 Model 78 Stepping 3, GenuineIntel
>>> 0.0003 seconds for primes < 10000
>>> 0.0021 seconds for primes < 100000
>>> 0.0204 seconds for primes < 1000000
>>> 0.2389 seconds for primes < 10000000
>>> 2.6702 seconds for primes < 100000000

对于Python 3

def rwh_primes2(n):
    correction = (n%6>1)
    n = {0:n,1:n-1,2:n+4,3:n+3,4:n+2,5:n+1}[n%6]
    sieve = [True] * (n//3)
    sieve[0] = False
    for i in range(int(n**0.5)//3+1):
      if sieve[i]:
        k=3*i+1|1
        sieve[      ((k*k)//3)      ::2*k]=[False]*((n//6-(k*k)//6-1)//k+1)
        sieve[(k*k+4*k-2*k*(i&1))//3::2*k]=[False]*((n//6-(k*k+4*k-2*k*(i&1))//6-1)//k+1)
    return [2,3] + [3*i+1|1 for i in range(1,n//3-correction) if sieve[i]]

对于最快的代码，numpy解决方案是最好的。不过，出于纯粹的学术原因，我发布了我的纯python版本，它比上面发布的食谱版本快不到50%。由于我将整个列表放在内存中，所以需要足够的空间来容纳所有内容，但它的可伸缩性似乎相当好。

def daniel_sieve_2(maxNumber):
    """
    Given a number, returns all numbers less than or equal to
    that number which are prime.
    """
    allNumbers = range(3, maxNumber+1, 2)
    for mIndex, number in enumerate(xrange(3, maxNumber+1, 2)):
        if allNumbers[mIndex] == 0:
            continue
        # now set all multiples to 0
        for index in xrange(mIndex+number, (maxNumber-3)/2+1, number):
            allNumbers[index] = 0
    return [2] + filter(lambda n: n!=0, allNumbers)

结果是:

>>>mine = timeit.Timer("daniel_sieve_2(1000000)",
...                    "from sieves import daniel_sieve_2")
>>>prev = timeit.Timer("get_primes_erat(1000000)",
...                    "from sieves import get_primes_erat")
>>>print "Mine: {0:0.4f} ms".format(min(mine.repeat(3, 1))*1000)
Mine: 428.9446 ms
>>>print "Previous Best {0:0.4f} ms".format(min(prev.repeat(3, 1))*1000)
Previous Best 621.3581 ms

这里是最快的函数之一的两个更新版本(纯Python 3.6)，

from itertools import compress

def rwh_primes1v1(n):
    """ Returns  a list of primes < n for n > 2 """
    sieve = bytearray([True]) * (n//2)
    for i in range(3,int(n**0.5)+1,2):
        if sieve[i//2]:
            sieve[i*i//2::i] = bytearray((n-i*i-1)//(2*i)+1)
    return [2,*compress(range(3,n,2), sieve[1:])]

def rwh_primes1v2(n):
    """ Returns a list of primes < n for n > 2 """
    sieve = bytearray([True]) * (n//2+1)
    for i in range(1,int(n**0.5)//2+1):
        if sieve[i]:
            sieve[2*i*(i+1)::2*i+1] = bytearray((n//2-2*i*(i+1))//(2*i+1)+1)
    return [2,*compress(range(3,n,2), sieve[1:])]