python - Why is if True slower than if 1? -

why if true slower if 1 in python? shouldn't if true faster if 1?

i trying learn timeit module. starting basics, tried these:

>>> def test1(): ...     if true: ...         return 1 ...     else: ...         return 0  >>> print timeit("test1()", setup = "from __main__ import test1") 0.193144083023   >>> def test2(): ...     if 1: ...         return 1 ...     else: ...         return 0  >>> print timeit("test2()", setup = "from __main__ import test2") 0.162086009979   >>> def test3(): ...     if true: ...             return true ...     else: ...             return false  >>> print timeit("test3()", setup = "from __main__ import test3") 0.214574098587  >>> def test4(): ...     if 1: ...             return true ...     else: ...             return false  >>> print timeit("test4()", setup = "from __main__ import test4") 0.160849094391 

i confused these things:

1. according response mr. sylvain defresne in this question, implicitly converted bool first , checked. why if true slower if 1?
2. why test3 slower test1 though return values different?
3. like question 2, why test4 little faster test2?

note: ran timeit 3 times , took average of results, posted times here along code.

this question not relate how micro benchmarking(which did in example understand basic) why checking 'true' variable slower constant.

true , false not keywords in python 2.

they must resolve @ runtime. has been changed in python 3

same test on python 3:

>>> timeit.timeit('test1()',setup="from __main__ import test1", number=10000000) 2.806439919999889 >>> timeit.timeit('test2()',setup="from __main__ import test2", number=10000000) 2.801301520000038 >>> timeit.timeit('test3()',setup="from __main__ import test3", number=10000000) 2.7952816800000164 >>> timeit.timeit('test4()',setup="from __main__ import test4", number=10000000) 2.7862537199999906 

time error in 1%, acceptable.