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Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 06:53:26 +1100
Subject: Re: Extracting elements over multiple lists?
From: Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com>
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Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.python:15735

On Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 5:17 AM, Dave Angel <d@davea.name> wrote:
> a =3D someexpression...
> b =3D a
> ....
> del a
>
> Does not (necessarily) delete the object that a refers to. =A0It merely
> deletes the symbol a.

I'd have to classify that as part of the change of thinking necessary
for a refcounted language, and not specific to del at all. The del
statement is identical to "a =3D None" in terms of deleting objects;
someone who's come from C++ might want to explicitly del every
variable before returning, but that's the only way that it's tied to
'del'.

ChrisA