Subj : Re: Newbie question. GC or memory managment.
To   : netscape.public.mozilla.jseng
From : J.P.
Date : Fri Aug 27 2004 03:15 pm

Thanks for the responses. Espicially Brendan. You have been very patient.

During the past a few day's reading, i have seen several notes talking 
about "racing with GC". My understanding is:

Given following code:

JS_BeginRequest(ctx);
DoSomething();
JS_EndRequest(ctx);

If DoSomething() takes too long, the GC will never get a chance to run, 
right?

In my code:

ctx = JS_NewContext();
JS_BeginRequest(ctx);
DoSomething();
JS_EndRequest(ctx);
ctx = JS_DestroyContext(ctx);

I sololy depend on the JS_GC() invoked by JS_DestroyContext(). Is it 
safe to assume that all memory associated with that ctx will be released 
properly?

Actually, since the ctx was used only by one thread, i was wondering if 
JS_BeginRequest() and JS_EndRequest() are necessary.


Brendan Eich wrote:

> J.P. wrote:
> 
>> In my code, I have multiple threads sharing the same runtime. Each 
>> thread has his own contexts.
>>
>> Do I need to compile the JS engine with JS_THREADSAFE defined?
> 
> 
> 
> Yes.
> 
> 
>> Do I need to use JS_BeginRequest and JS_EndRequest to bracket the JS 
>> API calls in each thread?
> 
> 
> 
> Yes.  Bracket batches of calls made from your own non-blocking code.  Of 
> course you don't need to begin and end requests within your own native 
> functions, getters, setters, etc. that the engine calls (JSClass hooks, 
> JSNative functions).
> 
> /be

.