[Python-ideas] Deterministic iterator cleanup

[Nick Coghlan]

On 22 October 2016 at 06:59, Chris Barker <chris.barker at noaa.gov> wrote:
> And then context managers were introduced. And it seems to be there is a
> consensus in the Python community that we all should be using them when
> working on files, and I myself have finally started routinely using them,
> and teaching newbies to use them -- which is kind of a pain, 'cause I want
> to have them do basic file reading stuff before I explain what a "context
> manager" is.

This is actually a case where style guidelines would ideally differ
between between scripting use cases (let the GC handle it whenever,
since your process will be terminating soon anyway) and
library(/framework/application) development use cases (promptly clean
up after yourself, since you don't necessarily know your context of
use).

However, that script/library distinction isn't well-defined in
computing instruction in general, and most published style guides are
written by library/framework/application developers, so students and
folks doing ad hoc scripting tend to be the recipients of a lot of
well-meaning advice that isn't actually appropriate for them :(

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia