Understanding Immortal Objects in Python 3.12. Abhinav Upadhyay provides a clear and detailed explanation of immortal objects coming in Python 3.12, which ensure Python no longer updates reference counts for immutable objects such as True, False, None and low-values integers. The trick (which maintains ABI compatibility) is pretty simple: a reference count value of 4294967295 now means an object is immortal, and the existing Py_INCREF and Py_DECREF macros have been updated to take that into account.
Recent articles
- Video: Building a tool to copy-paste share terminal sessions using Claude Code for web - 23rd October 2025
- Dane Stuckey (OpenAI CISO) on prompt injection risks for ChatGPT Atlas - 22nd October 2025
- Living dangerously with Claude - 22nd October 2025