robert wrote: > Daniel Dittmar wrote: > >>robert wrote: [...] > >>>garbage is collected earliest, when the refcount went to 0. If it ever >>>went to 0, no one will ever use such object again. Thus GC should not >>>be different at all. >> >>Since Python 2.?, there's a mark-and-sweep garbage collection in >>addition to the reference counting scheme. This was put into Python to >>be able to reclaim object cycles. > > > still that only walks on objects which have already zero refcount. Cannot > imagine any additional problems with the GIL. > If I understand you correctly, then you are suffering a misapprehension. Any object whose reference count goes to zero will immediately be reclaimed. The mark-sweep garbage collector is used to detect objects that are taking part in cycles - sets of objects that only refer to each other without being bound to a name in any current namespace or to any container object bound to such a name.
In other words, it detects (and reclaims) objects with non-zero reference counts which nevertheless can be reclaimed without ill effect on the program. regards Steve -- Steve Holden +44 150 684 7255 +1 800 494 3119 Holden Web LLC/Ltd http://www.holdenweb.com Skype: holdenweb http://holdenweb.blogspot.com Recent Ramblings http://del.icio.us/steve.holden -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
