MEMORY MANAGEMENT IN A PARTIALLY GARBAGE-COLLECTED PROGRAMMING SYSTEM
Memory management to support calls between objects in language environments supp ort automatic garbage collection and language environments requiring explicit control of objec t destruction is provided. Reference counting is used to automatically control the lifetime of ob jects requiring explicit d...
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Main Authors | , , , , |
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Format | Patent |
Language | English French |
Published |
09.11.1998
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Edition | 6 |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Memory management to support calls between objects in language environments supp ort automatic garbage collection and language environments requiring explicit control of objec t destruction is provided. Reference counting is used to automatically control the lifetime of ob jects requiring explicit destruction and that are to be accessible across the language boundary. A data s tructure is maintained in a runtime component for each object that is accessed over a language boundary . The reference count for each non-garbage collected object is incremented by the runtime in acc ordance with the number of cross-language references held to it. When the count reaches zero thro ugh decrements as the references are returned and destroyed, the non-garbage collected object c an be safely and automatically destroyed. The runtime creates a strong reference to any garbage c ollected object accessed by a cross-language call. The reference is visible to the garbage colle ctor, and prevents the object being collected while the reference is in existence. |
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Bibliography: | Application Number: CA19972225932 |