From: Kevin Smith <sent@...>
Date: 2001-01-12T15:35:45+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:9184] Re: Any way to delete object obviously?

and.u wrote:
>I want to delete object obviously like in Python
>a = C.new
>del a

I was waiting for someone else to respond, but I 
haven't seen any answers, so I'll try.

There is no way to explicitly delete an object. 
If such a call did exist, it could only take 
effect after the last reference to that object 
had been released. When the last reference is 
release, the object becomes available to be 
deleted. That's the beauty of garbage 
collection.

I guess the closest you could get would be 
something like:

a = C.new
a = nil     # so nothing refers to that object 
any more
GC.start

>And I want to know why no destructor in Ruby object.

As a C++ guy, this bothered me about Java, and 
then Ruby. In practice, having now written a 
couple thousand lines of Ruby, it just isn't an 
issue.

Ruby has a nice idiom that eliminates one common 
need for destructors. Take a look at the 
File#open method, and how you can pass a block. 
The file will automatically be closed when the 
block is finished. You could apply this to other 
resources that need to be freed when the 
operation is complete.

Ruby does also allow you to insist that a 
particular proc be called when an object is about 
to be destroyed. ObjectSpace.defin_finalizer. I 
would encourage you to avoid using it unless you 
find a really weird corner case that requires it. 
It's much simpler to just go with the Ruby way of 
doing things.

Kevin