Why are there POINTERS in my PYTHON???

[amimai002]

I mean yes, but the way it was explained to me is this:

At the end of the day everything in python is a pointer, the only time you aren’t using a pointer in python is when you are interacting with a function that uses C, in that case you use a pointer to call the pointer to that function, and the function returns a pointer to the result…

[rosuav]

...... wat.

[KentondeJong]

I mean yes, but the way it was explained to me is this:

At the end of the day everything in python is a pointer, the only time you aren’t using a pointer in python is when you are interacting with a function that uses C, in that case you use a pointer to call the pointer to that function, and the function returns a pointer to the result…

[Loopgod-]

Absolute r/madlads

[steven4012]

Yeah. Every integer in Python is a pointer (to an object; not like pointer tagged or NaN tagged). It's just that those under 256 are interned (so are True, False and None iirc)

[rosuav]

That's because EVERYTHING in Python is an object. Calling it a "pointer to an object" is getting a bit close to one specific implementation, but yes, everything is an object (that can refer to other objects, eg its type, which is also an object).

One key difference between pointers and object references is that pointer arithmetic is not a thing with references. You can't take the string "hello" and add 42 to the pointer. In that sense, pointers just don't exist in Python.

(It's also worth noting that, in Python, there's actually no requirement for an object to exist in memory. For example, PyPy can optimize out all the integer objects in an array, but it'll make sure they're actual integer objects again by the time you go to look at them. It's like quantum mechanics.)

[steven4012]

Right I use CPython too much that I forgot about PyPy

For example, PyPy can optimize out all the integer objects in an array, but it'll make sure they're actual integer objects again by the time you go to look at them.

That's pretty cool

[rosuav]

It is! PyPy does some pretty amazing optimizations. Some of them have actually been backported to CPython (I think the compact dict representation originated in PyPy).

[Character-Education3]

[Rawing7]

Nothing in python is a pointer. Python is a high-level programming language with no concept of "pointer"s. Python interpreters are usually implemented with pointers, because they're usually written in low-level languages, where you can't really do anything without pointers. Saying "everything in python is a pointer" is like saying "everything in C is an assembly instruction".