question on garbage collection for python

[Matteo Dell'Amico]

David Stockwell wrote:
> The questions here are:
> If in my code if I forget to close a file, when will the file be 
> closed?  Is it when something goes out of scope?  Or will it close when 
> the python session ends?

It isn't specified: it will be collected before the end of the program. 
I think that CPython would do it when the refcount goes to 0, whereas in 
Jython it will happen "sometimes in the future". Don't count on it, though!

> If I define a class of somesort, is there a way I can have a destructor 
> method (like I would under C++ ?)

The __del__ method.

-- 
Ciao,
Matteo