[Python-Dev] del is not called after creating a new reference (original) (raw)

MRAB python at mrabarnett.plus.com
Mon Mar 20 16:36:12 EDT 2017


On 2017-03-20 20:23, Antoine Pitrou wrote:

Hello Oleg, On Mon, 20 Mar 2017 18:28:29 +0100 Oleg Nesterov <oleg at redhat.com> wrote: I started to learn python a few days ago and I am trying to understand what del() actually does. https://docs.python.org/3/reference/datamodel.html says:

object.del(self) ... Note that it is possible (though not recommended!) for the del() method to postpone destruction of the instance by creating a new reference to it. It may then be called at a later time when this new reference is deleted. This sentence is not technically wrong, but it can easily be misleading. It says "it may then be called at a later time" and probably it should say "it may or may not be called at a later time, depending on the Python implementation you are using". [snip]

I don't think I'd say it's misleading, but only that it might be misunderstood.



More information about the Python-Dev mailing list