"Does that clear things up?" yes, very much so...thank you...=)
-- christopher On Sunday 21 December 2003 10:39 pm, James Edward Gray II wrote: > Perl uses a reference counting system. That usually does the right > thing, like most things Perl. It's not magic, but it sure is handy. > Let's look at an example. > > If I have an object A, which contains a reference to object B, which > contains a reference to C, etc: > > A has a B has a C ... > > Now if A is the only top level reference in my currently running code > (and no other code has references), what happens when we do: > > A = undef > > Object A's ref count just hit zero, so it's gone. Now when that > garbage collection happens, B's count is reduced, since A's reference > to it is reclaimed. If it hits zero too, B will be collected. That > would reduce C's count... You get the idea. > > Basically, you generally only need to worry about Perl's references > when you create circular refs. When faced with that, break the chain > yourself manually or use weak references. > > Does that clear things up? > > James -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <http://learn.perl.org/> <http://learn.perl.org/first-response>
