In-Place Algorithm

An in-place function modifies data structures or objects outside of its own stack frame (i.e.: stored on the process heap or in the stack frame of a calling function). Because of this, the changes made by the function remain after the call completes.

In-place algorithms are sometimes called destructive, since the original input is "destroyed" (or modified) during the function call.

Careful: "In-place" does not mean "without creating any additional variables!" Rather, it means "without creating a new copy of the input." In general, an in-place function will only create additional variables that are ( O(1) ) space.

An out-of-place function doesn't make any changes that are visible to other functions. Usually, those functions copy any data structures or objects before manipulating and changing them.

In many languages, primitive values (integers, floating point numbers, or characters) are copied when passed as arguments, and more complex data structures (lists, heaps, or hash tables) are passed by reference. This is what Python does.

Here are two functions that do the same operation on a list, except one is in-place and the other is out-of-place:

def square_list_in_place(int_list):
    for index, element in enumerate(int_list):
        int_list[index] *= element
    # NOTE: no need to return anything - we modified
    # int_list in place

def square_list_out_of_place(int_list):
    # We allocate a new list with the length of the input list
    squared_list = [None] * len(int_list)
    for index, element in enumerate(int_list):
        squared_list[index] = element ** 2
    return squared_list

Working in-place is a good way to save time and space. An in-place algorithm avoids the cost of initializing or copying data structures, and it usually has an ( O(1) ) space cost.

But be careful: an in-place algorithm can cause side effects. Your input is "destroyed" or "altered," which can affect code outside of your function. For example:

original_list = 
square_list_in_place(original_list)
print("original list: %s" % original_list)
# Prints: original list: , confusingly!

Generally, out-of-place algorithms are considered safer because they avoid side effects. You should only use an in-place algorithm if you're space constrained or you're positive you don't need the original input anymore, even for debugging.