What’s New at GNU – Andy Wingo: ephemerons and finalizers

Oct 312022
 

Good day, hackfolk. Today we continue the series on garbage collection
with some notes on ephemerons and finalizers.conjunctions and disjunctionsFirst described in a 1997 paper by Barry
Hayes, which
attributes the invention to George Bosworth, ephemerons are a kind of
weak key-value association.Thinking about the problem abstractly, consider that the garbage
collector’s job is to keep live objects and recycle memory for dead
objects, making that memory available for future allocations. Formally
speaking, we can say:An object is live if it is in the root setAn object is live it is referenced by any live object.This circular definition uses the word any, indicating a disjunction:
a single incoming reference from a live object is sufficient to mark a
referent object as live.Ephemerons augment this definition…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://wingolog.org/archives/2022/10/31/ephemerons-and-finalizers

 2022-10-31  Comments Off on What’s New at GNU – Andy Wingo: ephemerons and finalizers

What’s New at GNU – ephemerons and finalizers

Oct 312022
 

Good day, hackfolk. Today we continue the series on garbage collection
with some notes on ephemerons and finalizers.conjunctions and disjunctionsFirst described in a 1997 paper by Barry
Hayes, which
attributes the invention to George Bosworth, ephemerons are a kind of
weak key-value association.Thinking about the problem abstractly, consider that the garbage
collector’s job is to keep live objects and recycle memory for dead
objects, making that memory available for future allocations. Formally
speaking, we can say:An object is live if it is in the root setAn object is live it is referenced by any live object.This circular definition uses the word any, indicating a disjunction:
a single incoming reference from a live object is sufficient to mark a
referent object as live.Ephemerons augment this definition…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://wingolog.org/archives/2022/10/31/ephemerons-and-finalizers

 2022-10-31  Comments Off on What’s New at GNU – ephemerons and finalizers

Motherboard – ‘Humbling’ Study Shows How Cat ‘Zombie’ Parasite Hijacks Human Cells

Oct 312022
 

Scientists have discovered how Toxoplasma, one of the most common parasites in humans, hacks the immune cells of its hosts so that it can ride them around the body with alarming speed, reports a new study. The research reveals new secrets about this pernicious parasite, which reproduces in cat hosts and has infected at least one third of the global population, and sheds light on how other infectious diseases spread in humans and animals. Toxoplasma is widespread in warm-blooded animals and can be dangerous in some cases—especially for pregnant women and fetuses—though most people who carry the pathogen do not develop any harmful symptoms. The parasite is a public health concern as well as a scientific…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4ax5vd/humbling-study-shows-how-cat-zombie-parasite-hijacks-human-cells

 2022-10-31  Comments Off on Motherboard – ‘Humbling’ Study Shows How Cat ‘Zombie’ Parasite Hijacks Human Cells