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 0x7fad3000de30
freeing memory at 0x7fad30068720
freeing memory at 0x7fad30068e50
freeing memory at 0x7fad30068740
freeing memory at 0x7fad300663f0
freeing memory at 0x7fad300663d0
freeing memory at 0x7fad30066410
freeing memory at 0x7fad30068dc0
freeing memory at 0x7fad30066c90
|