The Python C API has many functions giving a direct access to an object content as a pointer:

• PyBytes_AsString(), PyBytes_AS_STRING()
• PyByteArray_AsString(), PyByteArray_AS_STRING()
• PyEval_GetFuncName()
• PyUnicode_AsUTF8(), PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize()
• PyCapsule_GetName()

Problem: the returned pointer becomes a dangling pointer if the object is deleted. It's not explicit for the caller how long the pointer remains valid.

For PyUnicode_AsUTF8(), the caller can guess that the pointer remains valid until the Python str is deleted (until the last strong reference is deleted).

Problem: These API make assumptions on how Python objects are implemented. What if tomorrow we want to remove the UTF-8 cached string of Python str object?

See "C API: Add PyObject_AsObjectArray() function: get tuple/list items as PyObject** array" issue python/cpython#106592 to have a different look at this problem.