Subj : JavaScript memory allocation
To   : netscape.public.mozilla.jseng
From : Michael Vincent van Rantwijk
Date : Tue Aug 23 2005 10:11 am

Hi all,

Let me first introduce myself. My name is Michael Vincent van Rantwijk 
(son of the MultiZilla author/developer) and I am 13 years old. I've 
been a junior developer for the MultiZilla project for two months now, 
and worked in the background for a longer period of time because I had 
lots, and still do, lots to learn first before going public ;)

Now, I'm not sure *if* this is the correct newsgroup for my 
problem/question but I have some questions about memory allocation in 
Mozilla (SeaMonkey/Firefox) from without a JavaScript snippet.

It is my understanding, but maybe I'm totally wrong in this, that if I 
use something like this: var someVar = "foobar"; the JavaScript engine 
allocates a six (6) byte memory block and assigns a pointer to it, right?

My first question is: "What happens when I use something like this: 
someVar = "" / someVar = null; someVar = undefined; ?

Will that clear the pointer *and* allocated memory or will there be a 
trace left of the text "foobar" i.e. is that still 'available' in 
readable text somewhere in memory?

My second question is: if the latter is the true, I guess that setting 
someVar to = "123456" will overwrite the text "foobar" (right?) but what 
happens when I set if to a shorter/longer text string? Will that re-use 
the same allocated memory block, or will it allocate a new block and 
will that also keep the text "foobar" in memory or will that be cleared?

Hey, I'm only 13 years of age, and English is not my native language so 
excuse me if I asked a blunt question, in the wrong newsgroup?

Kind regards,
Michael

.