It isn't, but IIRC refcounting is cooked into the python interpreter in so many places that everything that can be referenced must also be refcounted. If you g

It isn't, but IIRC refcounting is cooked into the python interpreter in so many places that everything that can be referenced must also be refcounted. If you get a reference to something, you increment its refcount. If you lose the reference, you decrement it. No ifs, no branches.