From: Larsenmtl Larsenmtl <larsenmtl@...>
Date: 2008-08-07T23:10:32+09:00
Subject: Array Of Objects, Removing Element From Memory

Ruby Fans,

I'm having trouble understanding when Ruby GC kicks in for Object
instances that are no longer referred to by anything.  A simple code
sample to illustrate:

[CODE]

class TestClass
end

collection = []
collection << TestClass.new
collection << TestClass.new
collection << TestClass.new
collection << TestClass.new

numTC = 0
ObjectSpace.each_object{|obj| numTC += 1 if obj.class == TestClass }
puts numTC

collection.delete_at(0)
collection.delete_at(0)
collection.delete_at(0)
collection.delete_at(0)

numTC = 0
ObjectSpace.each_object{|obj| numTC += 1 if obj.class == TestClass }
puts numTC

[/CODE]

If you run this you'll see that 4 TestClass instances are still in the
ObjectSpace even after they are deleted from the collection array.  I
tried manually calling the garbage collector after deleting the elements
from the array but I get the same result.

How do I get Ruby to trash those instances?

Thanks,
Mark
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