Weak Reference Objects ********************** Python supports *weak references* as first-class objects. There are two specific object types which directly implement weak references. The first is a simple reference object, and the second acts as a proxy for the original object as much as it can. int PyWeakref_Check(ob) Return true if *ob* is either a reference or proxy object. New in version 2.2. int PyWeakref_CheckRef(ob) Return true if *ob* is a reference object. New in version 2.2. int PyWeakref_CheckProxy(ob) Return true if *ob* is a proxy object. New in version 2.2. PyObject* PyWeakref_NewRef(PyObject *ob, PyObject *callback) *Return value: New reference.* Return a weak reference object for the object *ob*. This will always return a new reference, but is not guaranteed to create a new object; an existing reference object may be returned. The second parameter, *callback*, can be a callable object that receives notification when *ob* is garbage collected; it should accept a single parameter, which will be the weak reference object itself. *callback* may also be "None" or *NULL*. If *ob* is not a weakly-referencable object, or if *callback* is not callable, "None", or *NULL*, this will return *NULL* and raise "TypeError". New in version 2.2. PyObject* PyWeakref_NewProxy(PyObject *ob, PyObject *callback) *Return value: New reference.* Return a weak reference proxy object for the object *ob*. This will always return a new reference, but is not guaranteed to create a new object; an existing proxy object may be returned. The second parameter, *callback*, can be a callable object that receives notification when *ob* is garbage collected; it should accept a single parameter, which will be the weak reference object itself. *callback* may also be "None" or *NULL*. If *ob* is not a weakly- referencable object, or if *callback* is not callable, "None", or *NULL*, this will return *NULL* and raise "TypeError". New in version 2.2. PyObject* PyWeakref_GetObject(PyObject *ref) *Return value: Borrowed reference.* Return the referenced object from a weak reference, *ref*. If the referent is no longer live, returns "Py_None". New in version 2.2. Warning: This function returns a **borrowed reference** to the referenced object. This means that you should always call "Py_INCREF()" on the object except if you know that it cannot be destroyed while you are still using it. PyObject* PyWeakref_GET_OBJECT(PyObject *ref) *Return value: Borrowed reference.* Similar to "PyWeakref_GetObject()", but implemented as a macro that does no error checking. New in version 2.2.