Question on GC

Ruby
1

Hello Rubyists:

Does Ruby’s GC treat a class variable (@@x) as ‘global scope’ or as
‘local scope’?

Here is my situation:

I have a class variable that holds instances of ‘self’. These objects
are not referenced any where else; these objects are retrieved using
its id which is stored else where. It is my understanding that
Ruby’s GC doesn’t see these stored id as a reference to the
objects (since id -> Fixnum).

I don’t want these objects to be garbage collected as long as its
instance is referred the class variable. Please note that the objects
are not referenced by other class’s objects.

Example:

class Test
@@x = []

def initialize()
# among other thing …
@@x.push(self) if not @@x.include?(self)
end

def kill_self()
# among other things
@@x.delete(self)
end
end

class TestFactory
@store = []

def getATest()
procObj = Proc.new do |id|
@store.delete(id)
end

  t = Test.new()
  @store.push(t.__id__)

  ObjectSpace.define_finalizer(t, procObj)
  return t.__id__

end

def releaseTest(id)
_id2Obj(id).kill_self() # <— retrieves Obj from id
end

end

testF = TestFactory.new()
id = testF.getATest()
…
…

I don’t want ‘t’ to be garbage collected here. GC.disable is not an

option
…
…
testF.releaseTest(id)

END

Questions:

(1) Will ‘t’ be garbage collected since the only reference to ‘t’ is
in @@x, which could go out of scope?
(2) Is my understanding ‘scope’ correct?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
-Madan.

2

Hi,

In message “Re: Question on GC”
on Fri, 19 May 2006 22:58:28 +0900, “Madan M.”
[email protected] writes:

|Does Ruby’s GC treat a class variable (@@x) as ‘global scope’ or as
|‘local scope’?

Global, in a sense you use.

|(1) Will ‘t’ be garbage collected since the only reference to ‘t’ is
|in @@x, which could go out of scope?

No, class variables remain as it is, even after its scope ended.

|(2) Is my understanding ‘scope’ correct?

It’s called ‘extent’ in GC field. Class variables have limited scope
and infinite extent.

						matz.
3

Thanks, Matz.

-Madan.

4

Nobu:

The procObj does not refer to object ‘t’. procObj is attached as a
finalizer to object ‘t’. If the object reference to ‘t’ is not stored
in the class variable, object ‘t’ will be marked (or should I say
un-marked) for garbage collection.

Please correct me if I am wrong, or if I am missing the obvious (like
the reference to object ‘t’ in procObj, which I cant see).

Thanks,
Madan.

5

Hi,

At Fri, 19 May 2006 22:58:28 +0900,
Madan M. wrote in [ruby-talk:193553]:

end
Note that procObj also refers t, so this object will never get
collected.

  procObj = @store.method(:delete).to_proc

is an alternative.

6

On May 19, 2006, at 11:24 AM, Madan M. wrote:

  t = Test.new()

is an alternative.

The procObj does not refer to object ‘t’.

Even the you don’t refer to t by name, procObj’s environment knows
about t.

Please correct me if I am wrong, or if I am missing the obvious (like
the reference to object ‘t’ in procObj, which I cant see).

You can’t see them, but they are there. It is a feature of Ruby.

$ cat x.rb
def x
p = proc { eval(‘p t’) }
t = 5
return p
end

x.call
$ ruby x.rb
5

–
Eric H. - [email protected] - http://blog.segment7.net
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