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 0x7f61f804f4c0
freeing memory at 0x7f61f804f830
freeing memory at 0x7f61f8004b00
freeing memory at 0x7f61f804f1a0
freeing memory at 0x7f61f804f860
freeing memory at 0x7f61f804f7a0
freeing memory at 0x7f61f804e9a0
freeing memory at 0x7f61f8048980
freeing memory at 0x7f61f804f810
|