🐍 aprxc — A #Python #CLI tool to approximate the number of distinct values in a file/iterable using the Chakraborty/Vinodchandran/Meel’s (‘coin flip’) #algorithm¹.

https://codeberg.org/fa81/ApproxyCount

Vs. `sort | uniq -c | wc -l`: needs slightly more memory, but 5x faster.

Vs. `awk '!a[$0]++' | wc -l`: just as fast, using *much less* memory (20x-150x for large inputs).

At the cost of ~1% inaccuracy (configurable).

Useful? You decide! :)

¹ https://arxiv.org/pdf/2301.10191#section.2

#math #ComputerScience