[C++-sig] Inconsistency with Boost.Python code

[Robert]

Hi,

Suppose the following C++ Boost.Python code below. Note that I am 
embedding the python interpreter to execute python scripts from C++:

	using namespace boost::python;
	object imported( import( "sys" ) );
	dict sysdict( imported.attr( "__dict__" ) );
	list syspath( sysdict["path"] );
	syspath.append( "C:\testing" );

When I do the following python code in a script that I load after 
calling the code above, the output shows that "C:\testing" is not 
present in the list of paths:

	import sys
	print sys.path

However, when I do the Boost.Python code below, it works perfectly fine:

	import( "sys" ).attr( "path" ).attr( "append" )( "C:\testing" );

Both should do the same thing, however one works and one does not. 
Somewhere a copy seems to be getting created, when according to my 
research they should be reference counted. Can anyone explain the 
reasoning for this?