guile/doc/scheme-memory.texi

@page
@node Memory Management
@chapter Memory Management and Garbage Collection

@menu
* Garbage Collection::
* Weak References::
* Guardians::
@end menu


@node Garbage Collection
@section Garbage Collection

[FIXME: this is pasted in from Tom Lord's original guile.texi and should
be reviewed]

@deffn primitive gc
Scans all of SCM objects and reclaims for further use those that are
no longer accessible.
@end deffn

@deffn primitive gc-stats
Return an association list of statistics about Guile's current
use of storage.
@end deffn

@deffn primitive object-address obj
Return an integer that for the lifetime of @var{obj} is uniquely
returned by this function for @var{obj}
@end deffn

@deffn primitive unhash-name name
Flushes the glocs for @var{name}, or all glocs if @var{name}
is @code{#t}.
@end deffn


@node Weak References
@section Weak References

[FIXME: This chapter is based on Mikael Djurfeldt's answer to a question
by Michael Livshin. Any mistakes are not theirs, of course. ]

Weak references let you attach bookkeeping information to data so that
the additional information automatically disappears when the original
data is no longer in use and gets garbage collected. In a weak key hash,
the hash entry for that key disappears as soon as the key is no longer
referneced from anywhere else. For weak value hashes, the same happens
as soon as the value is no longer in use. Entries in a doubly weak hash
disappear when either the key or the value are not used anywhere else
anymore.

Property lists offer the same kind of functionality as weak key hashes
in many situations. (@pxref{Property Lists})

Here's an example (a little bit strained perhaps, but one of the
examples is actually used in Guile):

Assume that you're implementing a debugging system where you want to
associate information about filename and position of source code
expressions with the expressions themselves.

Hashtables can be used for that, but if you use ordinary hash tables
it will be impossible for the scheme interpreter to "forget" old
source when, for example, a file is reloaded.

To implement the mapping from source code expressions to positional
information it is necessary to use weak-key tables since we don't want
the expressions to be remembered just because they are in our table.

To implement a mapping from source file line numbers to source code
expressions you would use a weak-value table.

To implement a mapping from source code expressions to the procedures
they constitute a doubly-weak table has to be used.

@menu
* Weak key hashes::
* Weak vectors::
@end menu


@node Weak key hashes
@subsection Weak key hashes

@deffn primitive make-weak-key-hash-table size
@deffnx primitive make-weak-value-hash-table size
@deffnx primitive make-doubly-weak-hash-table size
Return a weak hash table with @var{size} buckets. As with any
hash table, choosing a good size for the table requires some
caution.
You can modify weak hash tables in exactly the same way you
would modify regular hash tables. (@pxref{Hash Tables})
@end deffn

@deffn primitive weak-key-hash-table? obj
@deffnx primitive weak-value-hash-table? obj
@deffnx primitive doubly-weak-hash-table? obj
Return @code{#t} if @var{obj} is the specified weak hash
table. Note that a doubly weak hash table is neither a weak key
nor a weak value hash table.
@end deffn

@deffn primitive make-weak-value-hash-table k
@end deffn

@deffn primitive weak-value-hash-table? x
@end deffn

@deffn primitive make-doubly-weak-hash-table k
@end deffn

@deffn primitive doubly-weak-hash-table? x
@end deffn


@node Weak vectors
@subsection Weak vectors

Weak vectors are mainly useful in Guile's implementation of weak hash
tables.

@deffn primitive make-weak-vector size [fill]
Return a weak vector with @var{size} elements. If the optional
argument @var{fill} is given, all entries in the vector will be
set to @var{fill}. The default value for @var{fill} is the
empty list.
@end deffn

@deffn primitive weak-vector . l
@deffnx primitive list->weak-vector l
Construct a weak vector from a list: @code{weak-vector} uses
the list of its arguments while @code{list->weak-vector} uses
its only argument @var{l} (a list) to construct a weak vector
the same way @code{list->vector} would.
@end deffn

@deffn primitive weak-vector? obj
Return @code{#t} if @var{obj} is a weak vector. Note that all
weak hashes are also weak vectors.
@end deffn


@node Guardians
@section Guardians

@deffn primitive make-guardian [greedy?]
Create a new guardian.
A guardian protects a set of objects from garbage collection,
allowing a program to apply cleanup or other actions.

@code{make-guardian} returns a procedure representing the guardian.
Calling the guardian procedure with an argument adds the
argument to the guardian's set of protected objects.
Calling the guardian procedure without an argument returns
one of the protected objects which are ready for garbage
collection, or @code{#f} if no such object is available.
Objects which are returned in this way are removed from
the guardian.

@code{make-guardian} takes one optional argument that says whether the
new guardian should be greedy or sharing.  If there is any chance
that any object protected by the guardian may be resurrected,
then you should make the guardian greedy (this is the default).

See R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993)
"Guardians in a Generation-Based Garbage Collector".
ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Programming Language Design
and Implementation, June 1993.

(the semantics are slightly different at this point, but the
paper still (mostly) accurately describes the interface).
@end deffn

@deffn primitive destroy-guardian! guardian
Destroys @var{guardian}, by making it impossible to put any more
objects in it or get any objects from it.  It also unguards any
objects guarded by @var{guardian}.
@end deffn

@deffn primitive guardian-greedy? guardian
Return @code{#t} if @var{guardian} is a greedy guardian, otherwise @code{#f}.
@end deffn

@deffn primitive guardian-destroyed? guardian
Return @code{#t} if @var{guardian} has been destroyed, otherwise @code{#f}.
@end deffn


@page
@node Objects
@chapter Objects

@deffn primitive entity? obj
Return @code{#t} if @var{obj} is an entity.
@end deffn

@deffn primitive operator? obj
Return @code{#t} if @var{obj} is an operator.
@end deffn

@deffn primitive set-object-procedure! obj proc
Return the object procedure of @var{obj} to @var{proc}.
@var{obj} must be either an entity or an operator.
@end deffn

@deffn primitive make-class-object metaclass layout
Create a new class object of class @var{metaclass}, with the
slot layout specified by @var{layout}.
@end deffn

@deffn primitive make-subclass-object class layout
Create a subclass object of @var{class}, with the slot layout
specified by @var{layout}.
@end deffn


@c Local Variables:
@c TeX-master: "guile.texi"
@c End: