[webkit-dev] Javascript - Protected Objects

Geoffrey Garen ggaren at apple.com
Mon Nov 24 11:48:37 PST 2008


Hi François.

> What are "Protected Objects"?

Protected objects are objects that have no direct references from the  
stack or the JavaScript heap, but must not be destroyed by the garbage  
collector. Typically, they are  objects that are referenced by non-GC  
heap-allocated storage, like the DOM. For example, some kinds of event  
listeners are protected from garbage collection.

We call protected objects "protected" because, unlike normal GC  
memory, they must be explicitly reference counted in order to protect  
them from premature deallocation.

Geoff


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