Re: Object IDs are good ( was: Object IDs are bad )

[bromage@cs.mu.OZ.AU (Andrew Bromage)]

G'day all.

doylep@ecf.toronto.edu (Patrick Doyle) writes:

>  Can you give an example of two immutable objects, alike in every way,
>which need to be distinguished?

They may need to be distinguished for the purpose of compile-time
garbage collection.  If you create two immutable identical objects,
it may be easier to discover when they become garbage because the
references to them are unique, than if they were one object with
a shared reference.

Admittedly the programmer does not necessarily need to see this.

Cheers,
Andrew Bromage