Today we’re going to talk about two of the most underrated methods in our beloved language __del__() and __repr__(). These guys don’t get as much love as they deserve, but trust me when I say that they are absolute game-changers.

So, first up, __del__. This method is called automatically by Python right before an object gets deleted from memory. It’s like a final goodbye to the world a chance for your class to do some cleanup or perform any necessary actions before it disappears into oblivion forever.

__del__() can also be used as a way of implementing manual memory management in Python. That’s right, you heard me correctly. You don’t have to rely on garbage collection anymore! Instead, you can take matters into your own hands and free up resources whenever you want.

Now let’s move onto our second hero of the day: __repr__(). This method is called when an object needs a string representation for debugging purposes or when it’s printed to the console. It’s like a mirror that reflects your class in all its glory, showing you exactly what it looks like from the outside.

But here’s where things get really interesting __repr__() can also be used as a way of implementing manual memory management in Python! That’s right, you heard me correctly again! Instead of relying on garbage collection to free up resources when an object is no longer needed, you can use __repr__() to create a string representation that can be easily parsed and reconstructed later.

Whether you’re implementing manual memory management or just debugging your code, these guys will help you get the job done faster and more efficiently than ever before. And who knows? Maybe someday they’ll even become as popular as slicing and dicing!

Later!