CamPUG: Pointers and Puzzlers - with Eli Holderness

Eli Holderness will give a talk:

In this talk, we’ll discuss what a pointer is, where they crop up in Python, and what you need to know in order to avoid getting tripped up by them. We’ll also cover the id of an object, how it varies between different implementations like IronPython and PyPy, and why is is different from ==. Finally, we’ll talk about garbage collection, what reference counting is, and how CPython knows when it’s time to get rid of unused objects.

Python is a wonderful thing that takes all the complication of memory management away from us. We don’t have to worry about pre-allocating memory for our objects, or remember to free it once we’re done. So, given that we’re not doing it manually, how do these things happen? Do we have to care? Well, sometimes. Maybe.

Whether you just want to understand what’s going on under the hood without having to dive into the implementation, or you’re on the hunt for some new diabolical things to do with code (self-referential lists are only the beginning!), come along to this talk and learn about the pointers in your Python.

This talk is aimed at anyone with an interest in how Python handles objects in memory, or who’s ever been confused by side-effects popping up in their code. Absolutely no knowledge of C is required, and Python beginners are extremely welcome.

Part 2 Puzzlers: As a bit of fun to kick off the New Year will be a chance for everyone to get involved in solving Python Puzzlers... we'll pose some short Python Puzzler and we'll discuss first and vote - OR we'll vote first then discuss!

Puzzlers are inspired by Josh Bloch's Puzzlers book and are an awesome way to learn some intricacies of Python and have some fun in the process - and sure to surprises even seasoned Python developers.

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Zoom link provided on the day via email (enable email notifications for Meetup) and Zoom link added to Meetup 1 hour before the meeting starts on event page.

Zoom starts muted and with video off - so feel free not to share video if you prefer not to.

There's no fixed time for stopping - we'll see how it goes.
Remember that everything we do must follow our code of conduct. Basically, be considerate to each other.

And lastly, feel free to join our slack group for general discussion before and after the meeting.