[Python-Dev] sys.intern should work on bytes (original) (raw)
Hrvoje Niksic hrvoje.niksic at avl.com
Mon Sep 23 10:03:12 CEST 2013
- Previous message: [Python-Dev] sys.intern should work on bytes
- Next message: [Python-Dev] Revert #12085 fix for __del__ attribute error message
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
On 09/20/2013 06:50 PM, PJ Eby wrote:
On Fri, Sep 20, 2013 at 9:54 AM, Jesus Cea <jcea at jcea.es> wrote:
Why str/bytes doesn't support weakrefs, beside memory use? The typical use case for weakrefs is to break reference cycles,
Another typical use case, and the prime reason why languages without reference counting tend to introduce weak references, is managing object caches with automatic disposal of otherwise unused items. Such a cache is rarely necessary for primitive objects, so Python's choice to spare memory for weakrefs is quite justified.
However, if one wanted to implement their own sys.intern(), inability to refer to strings would become a problem. This is one reason why sys.intern() directly fiddles with reference counts instead of reusing the weakref machinery. (The other of course being that intern predates weakrefs by many years.)
- Previous message: [Python-Dev] sys.intern should work on bytes
- Next message: [Python-Dev] Revert #12085 fix for __del__ attribute error message
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]