[Python-Dev] Conventional wisdom on finalization

[Tim Peters]

David Chase maintains a well-regarded GC FAQ, at

    http://www.iecc.com/gclist/GC-faq.html

Interested folks should look it up.  A couple highlights:

On cycles with finalizers:

    In theory, of course, a cycle in the graph of objects to be finalized
    will prevent a topological sort from succeeding.  In practice, the
    "right" thing to do appears to be to signal an error (at least when
    debugging) and let the programmer clean this up.  People with experience
    on large systems report that such cycles are in fact exceedingly rare
    (note, however, that some languages define "finalizers" for almost
    every object, and that was not the case for the large systems studied
    -- there, finalizers were not too common).

On Java's "finalizer called only once" rule:

    if an object is revived in finalization, that is fine, but its
    finalizer will not run a second time. (It isn't clear if this is a
    matter of design, or merely an accident of the first implementation
    of the language, but it is in the specification now. Obviously, this
    encourages careful use of finalization, in much the same way that
    driving without seatbelts encourages careful driving.)

Until today, I had no idea I was so resolutely conventional <wink>.

seems-we're-trying-to-do-more-than-anyone-other-than-us-expects-ly
    y'rs  - tim