Douglas Alan wrote: > "Chris Mellon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: [...] >> The Python language reference explicitly does *not* guarantee the >> behavior of the refcounter. > > Are you suggesting that it is likely to change? If so, I think you > will find a huge uproar about it. > >> By relying on it, you are relying on an implementation specific, >> non-specified behavior. > > I'm relying on a feature that has worked fine since the early '90s, > and if it is ever changed in the future, I'm sure that plenty of other > language changes will come along with it that will make adapting code > that relies on this feature to be the least of my porting worries. > Damn, it seems to be broken on my Jython/IronPython installations, maybe I should complain. Oh no, I can't, because it *isn't* *part* *of* *the* *language*. ...
>> Exactly like you'd be doing if you rely on the value of >> uninitialized variables in C. > > Exactly like I'd be doing if I made Unix system calls in my C code. > After all, system calls are implementation dependent, aren't they? > That doesn't mean that I don't rely on them every day. > That depends on whether you program to a specific standard or not. >>> There are languages other than C that guarantee that values are >>> initialized in certain ways. Are you going to also assert that in >>> those languages you should not rely on the initialization rules? > >> Of course not. Because they *do* guarantee and specify that. C >> doesn't, and neither does Python. > > CPython does by tradition *and* by popular will. > But you make the mistake of assuming that Python is CPython, which it isn't. > Also the language reference manual specifically indicates that CPython > uses a refcounter and documents that it collects objects as soon as > they become unreachable (with the appropriate caveats about circular > references, tracing, debugging, and stored tracebacks). > Indeed, but that *is* implementation dependent. As long as you stick to CPython you'll be fine. That's allowed. Just be careful about the discussions you get into :-) regards Steve -- Steve Holden +1 571 484 6266 +1 800 494 3119 Holden Web LLC/Ltd http://www.holdenweb.com Skype: holdenweb http://del.icio.us/steve.holden --------------- Asciimercial ------------------ Get on the web: Blog, lens and tag the Internet Many services currently offer free registration ----------- Thank You for Reading ------------- -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
