[ANNOUNCE] Garbage collection for Python
Chuck Esterbrook
echuck at mindspring.com
Sun Apr 9 22:43:05 EDT 2000
Neil Schemenauer wrote:
> Garbage collection for Python:
>
> http://www.enme.ucalgary.ca/~nascheme/python/gc.html
>
> I think I have all of the wrinkles ironed out of this patch.
> Reference cycles involving lists, tuples, instances, classes,
> dictionaries, and functions are found. Instances with __del__
> methods are handled in a sane way. It is easy to add GC support
> to new types. GC enabled Python is binary compatible with
> regular Python.
>
> Generational collection works (currently three generations). The
> overhead measured by pybench is less than 1 percent and is not
> measurable with pystone (on my machine). Virually all extension
> modules should work unchanged (I had to modify new and cPickle in
> the standard distribution). A new module called gc is available
> for tuning the collector and setting debugging options.
>
> The collector should be portable across all platforms but I have
> only tested on my Linux machine. The patched version of Python
> passes all regression tests and runs Grail, Idle and Sketch
> without problems.
>
> The patch is against the current CVS version of Python. If
> enough people ask for a patch against the stable version of
> Python I will make one. Please send comments and bug reports.
>
> Neil
>
> --
> "Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it." -- Alan Perlis
Looking at Python FAQ 6.14 on GC, I see another one as well:
http://starship.python.net/crew/gandalf/gc-ss.html
Can you compare/contrast the two? Also, you might want to get yours mentioned in the FAQ.
-Chuck
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