How do weak references work?

Can you explain what weak references are in programming?

Sure! Weak references are references that do not prevent their referents from being garbage collected. They are useful for managing memory.

Why would I use weak references instead of strong references?

Weak references are helpful in scenarios like caching, where you want to allow objects to be collected when memory is low, preventing memory leaks.

Can you give me an example of how to implement weak references in Python?

Absolutely! In Python, you can use the weakref module. Here's a simple example: import weakref; obj = SomeObject(); weak_ref = weakref.ref(obj).

What happens to the weak reference if the original object is deleted?

If the original object is deleted, the weak reference will return None when accessed, indicating that the object is no longer available.