docs/glossary: Describe string interning.
@@ -64,6 +64,22 @@ Glossary
properties of these pins (e.g. controllable by the same
register).
+ interned string
+ A string referenced by its (unique) identity rather than its
+ address. Interned strings are thus can be quickly compared just
+ by their identifiers, instead of comparing by content. The
+ drawbacks of interned strings are that interning operation takes
+ time (proportional to the number of existing interned strings,
+ i.e. becoming slower and slower over time) and that the space
+ used for interned strings is not reclaimable. String interning
+ is done automatically by MicroPython compiler and runtimer when
+ it's either required by the implementation (e.g. function keyword
+ arguments are represented by interned string id's) or deemed
+ beneficial (e.g. for short enough strings, which have a chance
+ to be repeated, and thus interning them would save memory on
+ copies). Most of string and I/O operations don't produce interned
+ strings due to drawbacks described above.
+
MCU
Microcontroller. Microcontrollers usually have much less resources
than a full-fledged computing system, but smaller, cheaper and
