[PD] Delete scalars

[Mathieu Bouchard]

On Thu, 10 Jul 2008, Miller Puckette wrote:

> On Tue, Jul 08, 2008 at 03:04:29AM -0400, Mathieu Bouchard wrote:
>> So, why are singly-linked-lists so crucial to the design of Pd ?
> It's not the list management that's the problem,

I think that this in itself might be a problem.

So, why are singly-linked-lists so crucial to the design of Pd ?

> Currently this is managed by maintaining a per-list "stub" that the 
> pointers all check through.  one could have such a stub for every 
> scalar, but this would add a lot of overhead.

You can get 8589934592 bits for 23$.

> Alternatively, all "gpointers" to a given scalar could register 
> themselves somehow, and every time one deleted a scalar one would track 
> down every pointer to it through the registration mechanism.

This concept is already named «weak pointer» nearly everywhere.

> I've been unable to convince myself that the machinery could be kept 
> lightweight and efficient.

You still need reference counting as much as last time I said it.

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| Mathieu Bouchard - tél:+1.514.383.3801, Montréal, Québec