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Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 15:57:29 -0500
From: Hyman Rosen <hyrosen@mail.com>
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Subject: Re: Question about OO programming in Ada
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Date: 2003-12-03T15:57:29-05:00
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Randy Brukardt wrote:
> Finalize should handle tasks for the components, not the object itself. So,
> it is possible (and common) to call U_D on components of the object
> (presuming that you have a way to check that it hasn't already been done, a
> requirement of all Finalize routines). But you never do memory allocation on
> the top-level object.

That's not true. In C++, it's not uncommon for objects to have
     delete this;
in their destructors. The technique is used for objects which
manage their own lifetimes, and know when it's time to go.
Reference counted objects are an example of this - the count
is decremented in the destructor, and if it reaches zero, the
object deletes itself. No muss, no fuss.

The technique does require that a destructor will be called
exactly once for an object. C++ guarantees this, Ada does not.