[Python-Dev] Overwriting objects before deallocating them

[Tim Peters]

[Guido]
> ...
> The new/del names are partly borrowed from C++, where new and delete
> are the memory (de)allocation operators as well as the object
> (de)allocation operators.

I know, but as a former C++ programmer, that's what I keep tripping over:
"del" in C++ does a lot more than just release memory (just as "new" in C++
does a lot more than just allocate memory -- and it may not allocate memory
at all).  OTOH, "del" in Python doesn't release memory.  So "del" in
Python's C API doesn't match what Python or C++ mean by it.  As far as I'm
concerned, the instant you don't type "malloc" literally you should already
be well aware that you're not necessarily calling malloc literally <wink>.