Doc/lib/libweakref.tex

\section{\module{weakref} ---
         Weak references}

\declaremodule{extension}{weakref}
\moduleauthor{Fred L. Drake, Jr.}{fdrake@acm.org}
\sectionauthor{Fred L. Drake, Jr.}{fdrake@acm.org}

\versionadded{2.1}


The \module{weakref} module allows the Python programmer to create
\dfn{weak references} to objects.

XXX --- need to say more here!

Not all objects can be weakly referenced; those objects which do
include class instances and dictionaries.  Extension types can easily
be made to support weak references; see section \ref{weakref-extension},
``Weak References in Extension Types,'' for more information.


\strong{Warning:}
The weak dictionaries provided in the current implementation and
described below are subject to change.  They are included to solicit
feedback and usage experience, and may be changed or removed in the
final version.

\strong{Warning:}
The desired semantics of weak-reference proxy objects are not
completely clear; it is very difficult to create proxies which behave
exactly like the type of the referent.  The details of these objects
are likely to change to some degree before the final release as
experience reports become available.

Please send specific feeback on this module to Fred Drake at
\email{fdrake@acm.org}.


\begin{funcdesc}{ref}{object\optional{, callback}}
  Return a weak reference to \var{object}.  If \var{callback} is
  provided, it will be called when the object is about to be
  finalized; the weak reference object will be passed as the only
  parameter to the callback; the referent will no longer be available.
  The original object can be retrieved by calling the reference
  object, if the referent is still alive.

  It is allowable for many weak references to be constructed for the
  same object.  Callbacks registered for each weak reference will be
  called from the most recently registered callback to the oldest
  registered callback.

  Exceptions raised by the callback will be noted on the standard
  error output, but cannot be propogated; they are handled in exactly
  the same way as exceptions raised from an object's
  \method{__del__()} method.
\end{funcdesc}

\begin{funcdesc}{mapping}{\optional{dict}}
  Return a weak dictionary.  If \var{dict} is given and not
  \code{None}, the new dictionary will contain the items contained in
  \var{dict}.  The values from \var{dict} must be weakly referencable;
  if any values which would be inserted into the new mapping are not
  weakly referencable, \exception{TypeError} will be raised and the
  new mapping will be empty.
\end{funcdesc}

\begin{funcdesc}{proxy}{object\optional{, callback}}
  Return a proxy to \var{object} which uses a weak reference.  This
  supports use of the proxy in most contexts instead of requiring the
  explicit dereferencing used with weak reference objects.  The
  returned object will have a type of either \code{ProxyType} or
  \code{CallableProxyType}, depending on whether \var{object} is
  callable.  Proxy objects are not hashable regardless of the
  referent; this avoids a number of problems related to their
  fundamentally mutable nature, and prevent their use as dictionary
  keys.  \var{callable} is the same as the parameter of the same name
  to the \function{ref()} function.
\end{funcdesc}

\begin{funcdesc}{getweakrefcount}{object}
  Return the number of weak references and proxies which refer to
  \var{object}.
\end{funcdesc}

\begin{funcdesc}{getweakrefs}{object}
  Return a list of all weak reference and proxy objects which refer to
  \var{object}.
\end{funcdesc}

\begin{classdesc}{WeakDictionary}{\optional{dict}}
  The class of the mapping objects returned by \function{mapping()}.
  This can be used for subclassing the implementation if needed.
\end{classdesc}

\begin{datadesc}{ReferenceType}
  The type object for weak references objects.
\end{datadesc}

\begin{datadesc}{ProxyType}
  The type object for proxies of objects which are not callable.
\end{datadesc}

\begin{datadesc}{CallableProxyType}
  The type object for proxies of callable objects.
\end{datadesc}

\begin{datadesc}{ProxyTypes}
  Sequence containing all the type objects for proxies.  This can make
  it simpler to test if an object is a proxy without being dependent
  on naming both proxy types.
\end{datadesc}


\begin{seealso}
  \seepep{0205}{Weak References}{The proposal and rationale for this
                feature, including links to earlier implementations
                and information about similar features in other
                languages.}
\end{seealso}


\subsection{Weak Reference Objects
            \label{weakref-objects}}

Weak reference objects have no attributes or methods, but do allow the
referent to be obtained, if it still exists, by calling it:

\begin{verbatim}
>>> import weakref
>>> class Object:
...     pass
...
>>> o = Object()
>>> r = weakref.ref(o)
>>> o2 = r()
>>> o is o2
1
\end{verbatim}

If the referent no longer exists, calling the reference object returns
\code{None}:

\begin{verbatim}
>>> del o, o2
>>> print r()
None
\end{verbatim}

Testing that a weak reference object is still live should be done
using the expression \code{\var{ref}.get() is not None}.  Normally,
application code that needs to use a reference object should follow
this pattern:

\begin{verbatim}
o = ref.get()
if o is None:
    # referent has been garbage collected
    print "Object has been allocated; can't frobnicate."
else:
    print "Object is still live!"
    o.do_something_useful()
\end{verbatim}

Using a separate test for ``liveness'' creates race conditions in
threaded applications; another thread can cause a weak reference to
become invalidated before the \method{get()} method is called; the
idiom shown above is safe in threaded applications as well as
single-threaded applications.


\subsection{Weak References in Extension Types
            \label{weakref-extension}}

One of the goals of the implementation is to allow any type to
participate in the weak reference mechanism without incurring the
overhead on those objects which do not benefit by weak referencing
(such as numbers).

For an object to be weakly referencable, the extension must include a
\ctype{PyObject *} field in the instance structure for the use of the
weak reference mechanism; it will be initialized by Python's functions
for object creation.  It must also set the \code{tp_weaklistoffset}
field of the corresponding type object to the offset of the field.
For example, the instance type is defined with the following structure:

\begin{verbatim}
typedef struct {
    PyObject_HEAD
    PyClassObject *in_class;       /* The class object */
    PyObject	  *in_dict;        /* A dictionary */
    PyObject	  *in_weakreflist; /* List of weak references */
} PyInstanceObject;
\end{verbatim}

The statically-declared type object for instances is defined this way:

\begin{verbatim}
PyTypeObject PyInstance_Type = {
    PyObject_HEAD_INIT(&PyType_Type)
    0,
    "instance",

    /* lots of stuff omitted for brevity */

    offsetof(PyInstanceObject, in_weakreflist) /* tp_weaklistoffset */
};
\end{verbatim}

The only further addition is that the destructor needs to call the
weak reference manager to clear any weak references and return if the
object has been resurrected.  This needs to occur before any other
parts of the destruction have occurred:

\begin{verbatim}
static void
instance_dealloc(PyInstanceObject *inst)
{
    /* allocate tempories if needed, but do not begin
       destruction here
     */

    if (!PyObject_ClearWeakRefs((PyObject *) inst))
        return;

    /* proceed with object destuction normally */
}
\end{verbatim}