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reference counting for garbage collection

Jason Orendorff jason at jorendorff.com
Mon Dec 10 15:33:31 EST 2001 
"Paul Brian" <paul1brian at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I am getting confused over object references/pointers etc....

Relax.  It's easier than you think (I think).


> [...] will the function foo still keep some reference to conn
> such that del(x) will *not* destroy conn but conn will still
> stay alive?

Nope.  As long as you have a variable somewhere by which you could
ever possibly reach that connection object and use it, ever again
ever, Python keeps the object alive.  But when your function exits,
all its local variables go away.

After you've lost every possible way to reach an object, Python
is likely to kill it.  After all, the reasoning goes, you clearly
won't be using it anymore.

If you want Python to keep an object alive, just stash it someplace
where you can get to it later - in a global list, for example.


> what have I done wrong in the stuff I just wrote (no not the above:-)?

There's no telling.  <wink>

-- 
Jason Orendorff    http://www.jorendorff.com/
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