Python, cPickle, pickling lambda functions

Question

I have to pickle an array of objects like this:

import cPickle as pickle
from numpy import sin, cos, array
tmp = lambda x: sin(x)+cos(x)
test = array([[tmp,tmp],[tmp,tmp]],dtype=object)
pickle.dump( test, open('test.lambda','w') )

and it gives the following error:

TypeError: can't pickle function objects

Is there a way around that?

Answer 1

The built-in pickle module is unable to serialize several kinds of python objects (including lambda functions, nested functions, and functions defined at the command line).

The picloud package includes a more robust pickler, that can pickle lambda functions.

from pickle import dumps
f = lambda x: x * 5
dumps(f) # error
from cloud.serialization.cloudpickle import dumps
dumps(f) # works

PiCloud-serialized objects can be de-serialized using the normal pickle/cPickle load and loads functions.

Dill also provides similar functionality

>>> import dill           
>>> f = lambda x: x * 5
>>> dill.dumps(f)
'\x80\x02cdill.dill\n_create_function\nq\x00(cdill.dill\n_unmarshal\nq\x01Uec\x01\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x02\x00\x00\x00C\x00\x00\x00s\x08\x00\x00\x00|\x00\x00d\x01\x00\x14S(\x02\x00\x00\x00Ni\x05\x00\x00\x00(\x00\x00\x00\x00(\x01\x00\x00\x00t\x01\x00\x00\x00x(\x00\x00\x00\x00(\x00\x00\x00\x00s\x07\x00\x00\x00<stdin>t\x08\x00\x00\x00<lambda>\x01\x00\x00\x00s\x00\x00\x00\x00q\x02\x85q\x03Rq\x04c__builtin__\n__main__\nU\x08<lambda>q\x05NN}q\x06tq\x07Rq\x08.'