[Lazarus] IUnknown and reference counting

[Michael Schnell]

On 03/21/2013 02:15 PM, Sven Barth wrote:
> If we put accounting the reference counting aspect then interfaces are 
> exactly what it says on the tin: a interface (German: Schnittstelle) 
> to a class. 

I see.

I once saw an algebra done with certain objects using operator 
overloading and interfaces. (e.g. Matrix algebra, or operations 
introduced on file-based objects). Here reference counting / 
auto-creation / auto deletion is very useful.


> Now FPC and Delphi add two additional concepts to this:
> * reference counting for interfaces (in FPC only those that are not 
> declared after a {$interfaces corba} directive)
Yep.
> * the ability to delegate the implementation of the interface to a 
> different class (using the "implements" keyword)
To allow for a kind of multiple inheritance, I supple.

-Michael