Look at the following code.
def foo(a, b):
x = a + b
if not x:
return None
sleep(1) # A calculation that does not use x
return a*b
This code DECREFs x when the frame is exited (at the return statement). But
(assuming) we can clearly see that x is not needed during the sleep
(representing a big calculation), we could insert a "del x" statement
before the sleep.
I think our compiler is smart enough to find out *some* cases where it
could safely insert such del instructions. And this would potentially save
some memory. (For example, in the above example, if a and b are large
lists, x would be an even larger list, and its memory could be freed
earlier.)
For sure, we could manually insert del statements in code where it matters
to us. But if the compiler could do it in all code, regardless of whether
it matters to us or not, it would probably catch some useful places where
we wouldn't even have thought of this idea, and we might see a modest
memory saving for most programs.
Can anyone tear this idea apart?
--
--Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido)
*Pronouns: he/him **(why is my pronoun here?)*
<http://feministing.com/2015/02/03/how-using-they-as-a-singular-pronoun-can-change-the-world/>
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