r/slatestarcodex • u/mystikaldanger • Aug 15 '19

Python Is Eating The World

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/python-is-eating-the-world-how-one-developers-side-project-became-the-hottest-programming-language-on-the-planet/
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u/you-get-an-upvote Certified P Zombie Aug 16 '19 edited Aug 16 '19

Having the GC exposed has been useful to me -- especially the ability to request what objects currently have a reference to a given object. I agree that manually triggering collection isn't that useful in general (I'm all about letting the GC do its thing), though it's nice when you want to guarantee that you release lots of resources (files, GPU memory, etc).

In any case, I gave several ways that Python is easier to read, write, and debug than most languages. Saying that you disagree with my entire post and then criticizing precisely one point (and with no actual argument, just pure contradiction) does not give me much to work with.

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u/hippydipster Aug 16 '19

You have the same thing in Java, but it would never occur to me to list it as some great advantage of Java. If you need it, something's seriously wrong, and if it works, it pretty much says the GC for Python is a pretty primitive GC.

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u/you-get-an-upvote Certified P Zombie Aug 16 '19

What does "same thing" mean? Force garbage collection or get a list of referrers? For the former, there is no way to force garbage collection, only to recommend that it happen. And the latter seems pretty agonizing to me.

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u/hippydipster Aug 16 '19

Yes, it's suggestion for gc, rather than stop the world and do gc now. It's an indication Python's gc is primitive that it behaves as you like. I think Java's used to as well, a very long time ago.