[Python-Dev] Garbage collecting closures (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido@python.org
Mon, 14 Apr 2003 10:50:10 -0400

From: Paul Prescod <paul@prescod.net>

Roughly, Python's cleanup model is "things get destroyed when nothing refers to them."

This hasn't been the mantra since Jython was introduced. Since then, the rule has always been "some arbitrary time after nothing refers to them." And the corollary is "always explicitly close your external resources."

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)