Pop a list from beginning ? and memory saving...

[Peter Hansen]

Peter Hansen wrote:
> 
> Terry Reedy wrote:
> > >>> l
> > [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
> > >>> l[:] = []
> > >>> l
> > []
> 
> I must have missed the _why_ part...  ah!  enlightenment:
> you are removing the contents of the list, which might
> have other references to it, rather than rebinding the name
> self._v to a new empty list but leaving those other
> references alone.

Oh, and in my opinion, that is obscure and deserves a
comment explaining how it works, and why it is being done.
I might not feel that way if I write that idiom a few times,
though. :)

-Peter