Question

Differentiate between reference counting and automatic garbage collection with respect to Python.

Answer 1

Basis of Difference	Reference Counting	Automatic Garbage Collection
Basis	Counts the number of references pointing to an object.	Runs according to allocation and de-allocation thresholds.
Object deletion	Object is reclaimed immediately when its reference count becomes zero.	Unreachable objects are reclaimed when the garbage collector runs.
Cyclic references	Cannot independently reclaim objects involved in a reference cycle.	Can detect and reclaim many cyclically referenced unreachable objects.
Execution	Continuous during program execution as references change.	A scheduled/background activity of Python's garbage collector.
Example	del x may reduce an object's reference count.	A self-referencing list can be collected by the cyclic garbage collector.