About the implementation of del in Python 3

[Jussi Piitulainen]

Marko Rauhamaa writes:

> While talking about addresses might or might not be constructive, let
> me just point out that there is no outwardly visible distinction
> between "address" or "identity".

With a generational or otherwise compacting garbage collector there
would be. I believe that to be a valid implementation strategy.

Or you are using "address" in some abstract sense so that the "address"
does not change when the internal representation of the object is moved
to another location.

> Ignoring the word that is used to talk about object identity, it would
> be nice to have a precise formal definition for it. For example, I
> know that any sound implementation of Python would guarantee:
>
>     >>> def f(a): return a
>     ...
>     >>> a = object()
>     >>> a is f(a)
>     True
>
> But how do I know it?

For me it's enough to know that it's the object itself that is passed
around as an argument, as a returned value, as a stored value, as a
value of a variable. This is the basic fact that lets me understand the
behaviour and performance of programs.