Are reference cycles bad form?

[Manuel Garcia]

I would like to ask the group, are reference cycles bad form?

I am debating whether to give a 'child' object a reference to its
'parent' object during creation of the 'child'.

Before Python had garbage collection, I wouldn't dare make reference
cycles.  Rather than create a reference cycle that I would have to
manually break later, I would just make my algorithms a little smarter
so they could figure out the 'parent' without help from the 'child'.

Python now has garbage collection, and I don't have to worry about
creating cycles, but is it bad form to create these cycles when I can
just make my algorithms a little smarter?

Using the 'weakref' module seems silly.  I have complete confidence
with Python's garbage collection, so why slow things down with extra
indirection?

I will probably refactor the algorithms with and without the 'child'
-> 'parent' reference, and see which I like better.  (Sometimes a
spiderweb of references is more of a crutch than a help.)

But as a general pricipal, is a design without reference cycles better
than a design with them?

(Uh oh, I am having a Visual Basic flashback... shaking and cold
sweats...  ;-)

Manuel