How Can Explicit Memory Management in Python Prevent Memory Errors in Large Data Processing?

Explicit Memory Management in Python: A Solution to Memory Errors

In Python, memory management is typically handled automatically by the Garbage Collector (GC). However, for complex data structures, explicitly freeing memory can prevent memory errors.

Question:

A program creates a large list of triangles from an input file and stores them in memory before outputting them in OFF format. However, the size of the list causes memory errors.

Solution:

To explicitly free unreferenced memory, invoke the Garbage Collector manually with gc.collect():

import gc

gc.collect()

Additionally, mark the data to be discarded using del before invoking the GC:

del my_array
del my_object
gc.collect()

Additional Notes:

• Using gc.collect() does not guarantee immediate memory release.
• Regularly invoking gc.collect() can affect performance if done too frequently.
• Use gc.get_objects() to check which objects are still referenced before freeing memory.

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