About the implementation of del in Python 3

[Chris Angelico]

On Thu, Jul 6, 2017 at 5:35 PM, Jussi Piitulainen
<jussi.piitulainen at helsinki.fi> wrote:
> Incidentally, let no one point out that ids are not memory addresses.
> It says in the interactive help that they are (Python 3.4.0):
>
> Help on built-in function id in module builtins:
>
> id(...)
>     id(object) -> integer
>
>     Return the identity of an object. This is guaranteed to be unique
>     among simultaneously existing objects. (Hint: it's the object's
>     memory address.)

Sorry, not the case.


Help on built-in function id in module builtins:

>>> help(id)
id(obj, /)
    Return the identity of an object.

    This is guaranteed to be unique among simultaneously existing objects.
    (CPython uses the object's memory address.)

>>> help(id)
Help on built-in function id in module __builtin__:

id(...)

>>>> help(id)
Help on built-in function id in module __builtin__:

id(...)
    Return the identity of an object: id(x) == id(y) if and only if x is y.


The interactive help does not say that in any version newer than the
3.4 that you tested. The function does not return an address, it
returns an identity.

ChrisA