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author | Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> | 1995-02-15 15:53:08 (GMT) |
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committer | Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> | 1995-02-15 15:53:08 (GMT) |
commit | d1883588aec09fcba1ad512cd889e5837087e318 (patch) | |
tree | e4b4464323558d66f94c4ffb1a0145048f886d1d /Doc/libcopy.tex | |
parent | e1ff7adbf64d50583687e4d51cc12eabb7a01c31 (diff) | |
download | cpython-d1883588aec09fcba1ad512cd889e5837087e318.zip cpython-d1883588aec09fcba1ad512cd889e5837087e318.tar.gz cpython-d1883588aec09fcba1ad512cd889e5837087e318.tar.bz2 |
added docs for pickle, shelve and copy
Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/libcopy.tex')
-rw-r--r-- | Doc/libcopy.tex | 79 |
1 files changed, 79 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/libcopy.tex b/Doc/libcopy.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f7f9744 --- /dev/null +++ b/Doc/libcopy.tex @@ -0,0 +1,79 @@ +\section{Built-in module \sectcode{copy}} +\stmodindex{copy} +\ttindex{copy} +\ttindex{deepcopy} + +This module provides generic (shallow and deep) copying operations. + +Interface summary: + +\begin{verbatim} +import copy + +x = copy.copy(y) # make a shallow copy of y +x = copy.deepcopy(y) # make a deep copy of y +\end{verbatim} + +For module specific errors, \code{copy.Error} is raised. + +The difference between shallow and deep copying is only relevant for +compound objects (objects that contain other objects, like lists or +class instances): + +\begin{itemize} + +\item +A {\em shallow copy} constructs a new compound object and then (to the +extent possible) inserts {\em references} into it to the objects found +in the original. + +\item +A {\em deep copy} constructs a new compound object and then, +recursively, inserts {\em copies} into it of the objects found in the +original. + +\end{itemize} + +Two problems often exist with deep copy operations that don't exist +with shallow copy operations: + +\begin{itemize} + +\item +Recursive objects (compound objects that, directly or indirectly, +contain a reference to themselves) may cause a recursive loop. + +\item +Because deep copy copies {\em everything} it may copy too much, e.g. +administrative data structures that should be shared even between +copies. + +\end{itemize} + +Python's \code{deepcopy()} operation avoids these problems by: + +\begin{itemize} + +\item +keeping a table of objects already copied during the current +copying pass; and + +\item +letting user-defined classes override the copying operation or the +set of components copied. + +\end{itemize} + +This version does not copy types like module, class, function, method, +nor stack trace, stack frame, nor file, socket, window, nor array, nor +any similar types. + +Classes can use the same interfaces to control copying that they use +to control pickling: they can define methods called +\code{__getinitargs__()}, \code{__getstate__()} and +\code{__setstate__()}. See the description of module \code{pickle} +for information on these methods. +\stmodindex{pickle} +\ttindex{__getinitargs__} +\ttindex{__getstate__} +\ttindex{__setstate__} |