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Memory Leak

Cameron Laird claird at lairds.com
Tue Feb 24 14:48:53 EST 2004 
In article <403BA63F.ACCB26CB at engcorp.com>,
Peter Hansen  <peter at engcorp.com> wrote:
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>Memory leaks are extremely difficult to debug, perhaps more difficult 
>than any other problem except race conditions.
>
>Thankfully, real memory leaks are very rare.  I don't think you've
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		[LOTS more sound advice]
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Mostly, I just want to repeat Peter's sound counsel.

There's a LOT to say about memory errors; in fact, I'm even
trying to introduce the subject to C and C++ programmers <URL:
http://informit.com/isapi/product_id~{51BA92A2-20C7-4142-8707-FA7140CE4275}/session_id~{549AF63E-92F6-4EC1-B6B7-6A9147DF259E}/content/index.asp >
I'll pull out a few points present in Peter's description that
I think summarize the right attitude:
1.  Look to yourself.  Until you have strong evidence
    to the contrary, assume that apparent memory pro-
    blems are under your control, and are NOT an 
    intrinsic fault of Python.
2.  The biggest return-on-investment you can reap is
    to upgrade your version.
3.  Next is to rationalize your own coding.
4.  Next is to inspect code for memory faults.  A 
    good developer can certify source, without re-
    course to external tools.  It's possible, even
    practical, to learn all the basic categories
    of memory error and be alert to their appear-
    ance.
-- 

Cameron Laird <claird at phaseit.net>
Business:  http://www.Phaseit.net
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