How do context managers and the `del` statement relate to timely memory cleanup versus relying on garbage collection?

`del` removes a name binding, decrementing the referenced object's refcount immediately -- if it reaches zero, the object is freed right away via reference counting, not waiting for a GC cycle. Context managers (with __exit__) similarly guarantee deterministic, immediate cleanup of resources (file handles, locks, connections) at block exit, which is more reliable than depending on garbage collection timing for external resources.

class DatabaseConnection:
    def __enter__(self):
        self.conn = connect()
        return self.conn
    def __exit__(self, *args):
        self.conn.close()  # deterministic cleanup, not left to GC

with DatabaseConnection() as conn:
    conn.query('SELECT 1')