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 0x7f0528068760
freeing memory at 0x7f0528068740
freeing memory at 0x7f052806a110
freeing memory at 0x7f05280573f0
freeing memory at 0x7f05280662a0
freeing memory at 0x7f0528063ed0
freeing memory at 0x7f0528006fc0
freeing memory at 0x7f0528066280
freeing memory at 0x7f05280669a0
|