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 0x7f0e88068440
freeing memory at 0x7f0e88051d00
freeing memory at 0x7f0e8805dd10
freeing memory at 0x7f0e880683b0
freeing memory at 0x7f0e880663f0
freeing memory at 0x7f0e880663d0
freeing memory at 0x7f0e88067d10
freeing memory at 0x7f0e88004b00
freeing memory at 0x7f0e88068460
|