For more fun, comparison between Python 2.7 / 3.4 / 3.6 / 3.6 FASTCALL.

----------------------------------+-------------+----------------+----------------+---------------
Tests                             |        py27 |           py34 |           py36 |           fast
----------------------------------+-------------+----------------+----------------+---------------
filter                            |  165 us (*) |  318 us (+93%) |  237 us (+43%) |         165 us
map                               |  209 us (*) |  258 us (+24%) |         202 us |  171 us (-18%)
sorted(list, key=lambda x: x)     |  272 us (*) |  348 us (+28%) |  237 us (-13%) |  163 us (-40%)
sorted(list)                      | 33.7 us (*) | 47.8 us (+42%) | 27.3 us (-19%) | 27.7 us (-18%)
b=MyBytes(); bytes(b)             | 3.31 us (*) |  835 ns (-75%) |  510 ns (-85%) |  561 ns (-83%)
namedtuple.attr                   | 4.63 us (*) |        4.51 us | 1.98 us (-57%) | 1.57 us (-66%)
object.__setattr__(obj, "x", 1)   |  463 ns (*) |         440 ns |  343 ns (-26%) |  222 ns (-52%)
object.__getattribute__(obj, "x") |  323 ns (*) |  396 ns (+23%) |         316 ns |  196 ns (-39%)
getattr(1, "real")                |  218 ns (*) |   237 ns (+8%) |  264 ns (+21%) |  147 ns (-33%)
bounded_pymethod(1, 2)            |  213 ns (*) |  244 ns (+14%) |   194 ns (-9%) |  188 ns (-12%)
unbound_pymethod(obj, 1, 2)       |  345 ns (*) |  247 ns (-29%) |  196 ns (-43%) |  191 ns (-45%)
func()                            |  161 ns (*) |  211 ns (+31%) |         161 ns |         157 ns
func(1, 2, 3)                     |  219 ns (*) |  247 ns (+13%) |  196 ns (-10%) |  190 ns (-13%)
----------------------------------+-------------+----------------+----------------+---------------
Total                             |  689 us (*) |  980 us (+42%) |         707 us |  531 us (-23%)
----------------------------------+-------------+----------------+----------------+---------------


I didn't know that Python 3.4 was so much slower than Python 2.7 on function calls!?

Note: Python 2.7 and Python 3.4 are system binaries (Fedora 22), wheras Python 3.6 and Python 3.6 FASTCALL are compiled manually.

Ignore "b=MyBytes(); bytes(b)", this benchmark is written for Python 3.

--

details:

Common platform:
Bits: int=32, long=64, long long=64, size_t=64, void*=64
Platform: Linux-4.4.4-301.fc23.x86_64-x86_64-with-fedora-23-Twenty_Three
CPU model: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz

Platform of campaign py27:
CFLAGS: -fno-strict-aliasing -O2 -g -pipe -Wall -Werror=format-security -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector-strong --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -grecord-gcc-switches -specs=/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/redhat-hardened-cc1 -m64 -mtune=generic -D_GNU_SOURCE -fPIC -fwrapv -DNDEBUG -O2 -g -pipe -Wall -Werror=format-security -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector-strong --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -grecord-gcc-switches -specs=/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/redhat-hardened-cc1 -m64 -mtune=generic -D_GNU_SOURCE -fPIC -fwrapv
Python unicode implementation: UCS-4
Timer precision: 954 ns
Python version: 2.7.10 (default, Sep 8 2015, 17:20:17) [GCC 5.1.1 20150618 (Red Hat 5.1.1-4)]
Timer: time.time

Platform of campaign py34:
Timer info: namespace(adjustable=False, implementation='clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC)', monotonic=True, resolution=1e-09)
CFLAGS: -Wno-unused-result -DDYNAMIC_ANNOTATIONS_ENABLED=1 -DNDEBUG -O2 -g -pipe -Wall -Werror=format-security -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector-strong --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -grecord-gcc-switches -specs=/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/redhat-hardened-cc1 -m64 -mtune=generic -D_GNU_SOURCE -fPIC -fwrapv
Timer precision: 84 ns
Python unicode implementation: PEP 393
Python version: 3.4.3 (default, Jun 29 2015, 12:16:01) [GCC 5.1.1 20150618 (Red Hat 5.1.1-4)]
Timer: time.perf_counter

Platform of campaign py36:
Timer info: namespace(adjustable=False, implementation='clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC)', monotonic=True, resolution=1e-09)
Python version: 3.6.0a0 (default:496e094f4734, Apr 22 2016, 02:18:13) [GCC 5.3.1 20151207 (Red Hat 5.3.1-2)]
CFLAGS: -Wno-unused-result -Wsign-compare -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O3 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes
Python unicode implementation: PEP 393
Timer: time.perf_counter

Platform of campaign fast:
Timer info: namespace(adjustable=False, implementation='clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC)', monotonic=True, resolution=1e-09)
CFLAGS: -Wno-unused-result -Wsign-compare -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O3 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes
Python unicode implementation: PEP 393
Python version: 3.6.0a0 (default:ad4a53ed1fbf, Apr 22 2016, 12:42:15) [GCC 5.3.1 20151207 (Red Hat 5.3.1-2)]