[Lazarus] IUnknown and reference counting

[Hans-Peter Diettrich]

Michael Schnell schrieb:
> BTW.: Re. COM / CORBA / ORB
> 
> Is there a decent way to describe the internal *Language-concept* 
> (Interface, Interfaced object, ....) (i.e. keywords, syntax, features, 
> usability...) independently of paradigms dictated by the environment the 
> executable is supposed to run in and that might provide some useful 
> parameters to the IDE when designing the program ? Based on this, COM / 
> CORBA / ORB might be described as specializations of the concept.

Simply forget about COM/CORBA ;-)

As already mentioned, Delphi interfaces are the workaround for the 
missing multiple inheritance in OPL, as known from many languages 
(Java...). Everything else IMO is language/implementation specific.

The lifetime of interfaces and their underlying objects is managed by 
reference counting in OPL. IMO this is essential for safe use of 
interfaces, because no holder of an interface reference can know when 
the underlying object can or should be destroyed.

DoDi