On 06.05.2011 12:27, Antoine Pitrou wrote: > On Fri, 06 May 2011 13:28:11 +1200 > Greg Ewing <greg.ew...@canterbury.ac.nz> wrote: > >> Amaury Forgeot d'Arc wrote [concerning the Doc/data/refcounts.dat file]: >> >> > This is not always true, for example when the item is already present >> > in the dict. >> > It's not important to know what the function does to the object, >> > Only the action on the reference is relevant. >> >> Yes, that's the whole point. When using a functon, >> what you need to know is whether it borrows or steals >> a reference. > > Doesn't "borrow" mean the same as "steal" in that context? > If an API borrows a reference, I expect it to take it from me.
Basically, "borrow" is applied to return values (or, more generally, "out" parameters), and means that *you* borrowed the reference. "steal", OTOH, is applied to (and the exception for) "in" parameters. Georg _______________________________________________ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com
