Numpy.ndarray objects, not garbage collection

Question

When I try to fine tune some memory leaks in Python bindings for some C / C ++ functions, I look at some strange behavior related to garbage collection of Numpy arrays.

I created some simplified cases to better explain the behavior. The code was launched using memory_profiler, the output of which follows immediately after. It seems that the Python garbage collection does not work as expected when it comes to NumPy arrays:

# File deallocate_ndarray.py
@profile
def ndarray_deletion():
    import numpy as np
    from gc import collect
    buf = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz' * 10000
    arr = np.frombuffer(buf)
    del arr
    del buf
    collect()
    y = [i**2 for i in xrange(10000)]
    del y
    collect()

if __name__=='__main__':
    ndarray_deletion()

Using the following command, I called memory_profiler:

python -m memory_profiler deallocate_ndarray.py

Here is what I got:

Filename: deallocate_ndarray.py
Line #    Mem usage    Increment   Line Contents
================================================
 5   10.379 MiB    0.000 MiB   @profile
 6                             def ndarray_deletion():
 7   17.746 MiB    7.367 MiB       import numpy as np
 8   17.746 MiB    0.000 MiB       from gc import collect
 9   17.996 MiB    0.250 MiB       buf = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz' * 10000
10   18.004 MiB    0.008 MiB       arr = np.frombuffer(buf)
11   18.004 MiB    0.000 MiB       del arr
12   18.004 MiB    0.000 MiB       del buf
13   18.004 MiB    0.000 MiB       collect()
14   18.359 MiB    0.355 MiB       y = [i**2 for i in xrange(10000)]
15   18.359 MiB    0.000 MiB       del y
16   18.359 MiB    0.000 MiB       collect()

, collect , . , Numpy - C-, ( Python) ?

, del __del__, , del , ( AFAIK). , increment, . - , ?

. OS X 10.10.4, Python 2.7.10 (conda), Numpy 1.9.2 (conda), Profiler Profiler 0.33 (conda-binstar), psutil 2.2.1 (conda).

Answer 1

, buf . , memory_profiler, ( , ), , , Python, .

, 10000 100000000 buf

Line #    Mem usage    Increment   Line Contents
================================================
21   10.289 MiB    0.000 MiB   @profile
22                             def ndarray_deletion():
23   17.309 MiB    7.020 MiB       import numpy as np
24   17.309 MiB    0.000 MiB       from gc import collect
25 2496.863 MiB 2479.555 MiB       buf = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz' * 100000000
26 2496.867 MiB    0.004 MiB       arr = np.frombuffer(buf)
27 2496.867 MiB    0.000 MiB       del arr
28   17.312 MiB -2479.555 MiB       del buf
29   17.312 MiB    0.000 MiB       collect()
30   17.719 MiB    0.406 MiB       y = [i**2 for i in xrange(10000)]
31   17.719 MiB    0.000 MiB       del y
32   17.719 MiB    0.000 MiB       collect()