If a foreign pointer object corresponds to memory that was not allocated by the GC garbage collector, then a function to properly deallocate this memory when the Pointer object that stores this pointer is garbage collected should be called. The function should take a single argument, a foreign object, typically of type voidstar, which corresponds to the memory to deallocate.
i1 : malloc = foreignFunction("malloc", voidstar, ulong)
o1 = malloc
o1 : ForeignFunction
|
i2 : free = foreignFunction("free", void, voidstar)
o2 = free
o2 : ForeignFunction
|
i3 : finalizer = x -> (print("freeing memory at " | net x); free x)
o3 = finalizer
o3 : FunctionClosure
|
i4 : for i to 9 do (x := malloc 8; registerFinalizer(x, finalizer))
|
i5 : collectGarbage()
freeing memory at 0x7fa27006a230freeing memory at 0x7fa2700639f0
freeing memory at 0x7fa27005f3f0
freeing memory at 0x7fa270063bc0
freeing memory at 0x7fa270066c50
freeing memory at 0x7fa270069180
freeing memory at 0x7fa270063bf0
freeing memory at 0x7fa2700639d0
freeing memory at 0x7fa27006a210
freeing memory at 0x7fa27006a230
|