dwww Home | Manual pages | Find package

Stdlib.Weak(3o)                  OCaml library                 Stdlib.Weak(3o)

NAME
       Stdlib.Weak - no description

Module
       Module   Stdlib.Weak

Documentation
       Module Weak
        : (module Stdlib__Weak)

   Low-level functions
       type 'a t

       The type of arrays of weak pointers (weak arrays).  A weak pointer is a
       value that the garbage collector may erase whenever the  value  is  not
       used  any more (through normal pointers) by the program.  Note that fi-
       nalisation functions are run before the weak pointers are  erased,  be-
       cause  the  finalisation  functions can make values alive again (before
       4.03 the finalisation functions were run after).

       A weak pointer is said to be full if it points to a value, empty if the
       value was erased by the GC.

       Notes:

       -Integers are not allocated and cannot be stored in weak arrays.

       -Weak  arrays  cannot be marshaled using output_value nor the functions
       of the Marshal module.

       val create : int -> 'a t

       Weak.create n returns a new weak array of length n .  All the  pointers
       are initially empty.

       Raises  Invalid_argument  if  n  is  not  comprised  between  zero  and
       Obj.Ephemeron.max_ephe_length (limits included).

       val length : 'a t -> int

       Weak.length ar returns the length (number of elements) of ar .

       val set : 'a t -> int -> 'a option -> unit

       Weak.set ar n (Some el) sets the n th cell of ar to be a (full) pointer
       to el ; Weak.set ar n None sets the n th cell of ar to empty.

       Raises Invalid_argument if n is not in the range 0 to Weak.length a - 1
       .

       val get : 'a t -> int -> 'a option

       Weak.get ar n returns None if the n th cell of  ar  is  empty,  Some  x
       (where x is the value) if it is full.

       Raises Invalid_argument if n is not in the range 0 to Weak.length a - 1
       .

       val get_copy : 'a t -> int -> 'a option

       Weak.get_copy ar n returns None if the n th cell of ar is empty, Some x
       (where  x is a (shallow) copy of the value) if it is full.  In addition
       to pitfalls with mutable values, the interesting difference with get is
       that  get_copy  does  not  prevent  the incremental GC from erasing the
       value in its current cycle ( get may delay the erasure to the  next  GC
       cycle).

       Raises Invalid_argument if n is not in the range 0 to Weak.length a - 1
       .

       If the element is a custom block it is not copied.

       val check : 'a t -> int -> bool

       Weak.check ar n returns true if the n th cell of ar is full,  false  if
       it is empty.  Note that even if Weak.check ar n returns true , a subse-
       quent Weak.get ar n can return None .

       val fill : 'a t -> int -> int -> 'a option -> unit

       Weak.fill ar ofs len el sets to el all pointers of ar from ofs to ofs +
       len - 1 .

       Raises  Invalid_argument if ofs and len do not designate a valid subar-
       ray of a .

       val blit : 'a t -> int -> 'a t -> int -> int -> unit

       Weak.blit ar1 off1 ar2 off2 len  copies  len  weak  pointers  from  ar1
       (starting  at  off1  )  to ar2 (starting at off2 ).  It works correctly
       even if ar1 and ar2 are the same.

       Raises Invalid_argument if off1 and len do not designate a valid subar-
       ray  of  ar1  , or if off2 and len do not designate a valid subarray of
       ar2 .

   Weak hash sets
       A weak hash set is a hashed set of values.  Each  value  may  magically
       disappear  from  the set when it is not used by the rest of the program
       any more.  This is normally used to share data structures  without  in-
       ducing  memory  leaks.   Weak  hash  sets  are defined on values from a
       Hashtbl.HashedType module; the equal relation  and  hash  function  are
       taken  from  that  module.   We  will say that v is an instance of x if
       equal x v is true .

       The equal relation must be able to work on a shallow copy of the values
       and give the same result as with the values themselves.

       module type S = sig end

       The output signature of the functor Weak.Make .

       module Make : functor (H : Hashtbl.HashedType) -> sig end

       Functor  building  an  implementation  of  the weak hash set structure.
       H.equal can't be the physical equality, since only  shallow  copies  of
       the elements in the set are given to it.

OCamldoc                          2023-02-12                   Stdlib.Weak(3o)

Generated by dwww version 1.15 on Sun Jun 23 03:38:51 CEST 2024.