clear() and UFCS

[Alex Rønne Petersen]

On 25-05-2012 17:37, Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
> On Fri, 25 May 2012 11:28:07 -0400, Alex Rønne Petersen
> <alex at lycus..org> wrote:
>
>> On 25-05-2012 17:23, Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
>>> On Fri, 25 May 2012 11:03:33 -0400, Alex Rønne Petersen
>>> <alex at lycus..org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 25-05-2012 16:56, Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Wow, you're right, it's not documented. That should be fixed!
>>>>
>>>> Before we do, we should deprecate clear and rename it to finalize,
>>>> though.
>>>
>>> I don't like finalize because it's not a finalizer.
>>>
>>> I think we should mimic other languages that have a finalizer and a
>>> deterministic dispose function.
>>>
>>> -Steve
>>
>> But it calls rt_finalize...?
>
> Yeah, because non-deterministic destruction is part of deterministic
> destruction.
>
> finalize -> destroy non-gc resources
> dispose -> 1. do deterministic destruction involving possible GC
> resources 2. call finalize.
>
> e.g. a buffered file:
>
> finalize -> close the file handle
> dispose -> flush the GC allocated buffer into the handle, then close the
> handle
>
> -Steve

But if clear() *does* run the finalizer *now*, then finalize would be a 
better name, no?

I'm all for the dispose model, but then we need a way to suppress 
finalizers too.

-- 
Alex Rønne Petersen
alex at lycus.org
http://lycus.org