matplotlib/matplotlib — pull request #2289 by mmokrejs (2013-08-09 21:36:19+00:00)
Title: speedup figure rendering removal of .startswith() calls and use generato...

speedup figure rendering removal of .startswith() calls and use generators instead of for loops

Please see the email thread:
[Matplotlib-users] mpl-1.2.1: Speedup code by removing .startswith() calls and some for loops
for more details.