how to release used memory immediately in python list?

Question

in many cases ,you are sure you definitely won\'t use the list again,i hope the memory should be release right now

a = [11,22,34,567,9999]
del a

Answer 1

If your worried about memory management and performance for data types why not use something like a linked double queue.

First its memory footprint is scattered though out the memory so you won't have to allocate a large chunk of continuous memory right off the bat.

Second you will see faster access times for enqueueing and dequeueing because unlike in a standard list when you remove lets say a middle element there is no need for sliding the rest of the list over in the index which takes time in large lists.

I should also note if you are using just integers I would suggest looking into a binary heap as you will see O(log^2n) access times compared to mostly O(N) with lists.