[Python-Dev] recursive closures - reference cycle (original) (raw)

Kristján Valur Jónsson kristjan at ccpgames.com
Wed Dec 9 13:03:52 CET 2009

-----Original Message----- From: python-dev-bounces+kristjan=ccpgames.com at python.org [mailto:python-dev-bounces+kristjan=ccpgames.com at python.org] On Behalf Of Greg Ewing Sent: 8. desember 2009 22:09 To: python-dev at python.org Subject: Re: [Python-Dev] recursive closures - reference cycle

You could use a class:

Yes, and a number of different workarounds. That's not really the issue. The issue is that what looks like a perfectly safe idiom (calling a function recursively) happens to create a reference cycle if that function is a closure. This is a non-obvious "gotcha" that I must now educate my team about.

Note that at least parts of the library strive to avoid reference cycles even though "gc" exists. An example being xlm.minidom.Document.unlink()

Cheers,

Kristján

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