[patch] tiny documentation fix

[Robey Pointer]

On 2 Nov 2005, at 12:12, John Arbash Meinel wrote:

> Martin Pool wrote:
>
>> On 01/11/05, Jamie Wilkinson <jaq at spacepants.org> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> One sentence in HACKING sent shivers down my spine.
>>>
>>
>>
>> Hi Jamie,
>>
>> === modified file 'HACKING'
>> --- HACKING
>> +++ HACKING
>> @@ -134,7 +134,7 @@
>>  Destructors
>>  -----------
>>
>> -Python destructors (``__del__``) work rather differently from in  
>> other
>> +Python destructors (``__del__``) work differently than those of  
>> other
>>  languages.  In particular, bear in mind that destructors may not  
>> be called
>>  immediately when the object apparently becomes unreferenced, and  
>> that
>>  there are tight restrictions on what can be done inside them.
>>
>> As far as I know 'differently from' is correct, though 'different to'
>> might be better here.  No?
>>
>
> "differently from other languages" would be okay, but I don't believe
> "diffenently from in other" is correct.

This whole paragraph smells bad to me.  Python destructors actually  
behave differently from other languages in that they may be called  
*immediately* after the last reference goes away, or may not be  
called at all.  (Destructors of objects inside cycles are never  
called.)  I can't offhand think of the restrictions being referred to.

How about this:

"""
Python destructors (``__del__``) work differently from those in other  
languages.   In particular, bear in mind that destructors may be  
called immediately after an object becomes dereferenced, or may not  
be called at all (if the object is in a cycle).
"""

robey

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