In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Steven Howe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Interesting questions. What happens when an object is 'cleaned' up by > using the 'del' command. Does the memory space stay in the python > process, get handed back to the OS, or some combination of both? > I remember 'C' on VMS at least, could be coerced into return memory on > block boundaries. 'C++' was suppose to have garbage collect, but I was > always doubtful it worked well. Note that UNIX (and VMS) use "virtual" memory. Real memory space gets "handed back to the OS" by default -- if you don't use it, you lose it. It isn't coercion, but it does happen on a per page basis, so fragmentation wastes space. If a Python program uses more space than it ought to need, then some knowledge of Python's reference counting allocation scheme will be useful. In particular, you need a fairly good grasp of what a "reference" is. Donn Cave, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
