The following chapter discusses some general rules and approaches to get the maximum speed out of your code. A MAXScript could do the job as expected but it could do it very slowly or very quickly depending on the writing style of the developer.

In addition, optimizing a script for speed often leads to a cleaner code that is easier to read by others and to maintain by the developer.

Topics:

Disable Viewport Redraws when making changes to scene objects

Disable Undo system when possible

Modify Panel can be slow - change to Create Panel when possible

Use the 'flagForeground' node viewport state method

Never get a single pixel when you can get a whole line

Only calculate once if possible

Cache frequently used functions and objects

Dice your data into smaller pieces

Use bitArrays instead of Arrays when possible

Pre-initialize arrays when final size is known

Recursive functions can be faster

matchPattern is faster than findString

Do not use return, break, exit or continue

Use StringStream to build large strings

Use name values instead of strings when possible

Try not to use Execute function if there is an alternative

For Loop By Index Vs For Loop Through Collection Performance

For Loop Collect Vs For Loop Do Performance

Optimizing Particle Flow Script Operator For Loops For Speed

Using Bsearch For Fast Table Lookup