From: Nat Pryce <nat.pryce@...13media.com>
Date: 2002-05-25T21:34:14+09:00
Subject: Re: Stymied by Ruby's garbage collector

From: "Sean O'Dell" <sean@BUHBYESPAMcelsoft.com>
> Finalizers don't cut it for me.  Proper object destruction requires
> special tasks much of the time (freeing memory, closing files, etc.).  A
> proper destructor is helping keep the function of the object
> encapsulated.  It's an exit routine.  Last I heard, finalizers were
> called when the object was already gone...so you can't much in the way
> of closing anything or freeing anything that the object was
> maintaining...it's just not the same thing.

This is a common complaint from people used to C++ or Java, probably because
they are not used to a language with proper closures.  This page on the Ruby
Garden wiki explains how to use finalisers to clean up an object's private
state:

http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?DiscussionOnUsingFinalizers

Cheers,
            Nat.
________________________________
Dr. Nathaniel Pryce
B13media Ltd.
Studio 3a, Aberdeen Business Centre, 22/24 Highbury Grove, London, N5 2EA
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