PEP 556 – Threaded garbage collection
PEP 556 and the following PEPs are included to show recent PEP submissions that are potentially interesting, due to their impact on the Python ecosystem.
PEP 556 was created in September, 2017, and is currently in Draft status. It is expected to be included in Python v3.7. It proposes a new mode of operation for Python's garbage collection. The new mode would allow implicit collection to occur within a dedicated thread, rather than synchronously with the CPU.
Getting ready
To discuss this PEP, we need to have a discussion about how garbage collection works within Python.
Garbage collection is handled by the gc module. While garbage collection is provided by Python by default, it is actually an optional feature. Using the module, garbage collection can be turned off, or the collection frequency can be modified; it also allows for debugging options. Further, it provides the ability to access objects that the collector identified, but cannot directly de-allocate...
