[gclist] Weighted Reference Count (was: distributed objects)

[Christian Fabre]

|| From: Mark Tillotson <markt@harlequin.co.uk>

|| The object itself has to extend the bits of precision of it's
|| remaining weight to allow for the maximum number of duplications of
|| any deleted reference (or better still have a sparse representation
|| of the number?)
| 
| I don't understand this remark.  The object's total weight is a
| single number.  Whereas the credits given out to the individual
| pointers can only be equal to a power of two, the total weight can
| be any number.

I have the same concern as Mark Tillotson. The problem is, it seems
that we have a maximum number of copy per object.

Let us assume a 32 bits architecture.  Each object starts with a
Weight Credit of 2^31, the Allocated Weight is divided by 2 at each
duplication.  In the worst case, if we duplicate 31 time we might end
up with a duplicate having an AW of 1.

1/2=0, so how do we proceed to duplicate that one?

Or did I miss something obvious?


|                                                 Marc

Christian.

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   Christian Fabre 		
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