In computer programming, a weak reference is a reference that does not protect the referenced object from collection by a garbage collector; unlike a strong reference. An object referenced only by weak references is considered unreachable (or weakly reachable) and so may be collected at any time. Some garbage-collected languages feature or support various levels of weak references, such as Java, C#, Python, Perl, and Lisp.
Read more about Weak Reference: Garbage Collection, Variations, Examples
Famous quotes containing the words weak and/or reference:
“Communism is inequality, but not as property is. Property is exploitation of the weak by the strong. Communism is exploitation of the strong by the weak.”
—Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865)
“If we define a sign as an exact reference, it must include symbol because a symbol is an exact reference too. The difference seems to be that a sign is an exact reference to something definite and a symbol an exact reference to something indefinite.”
—William York Tindall (1903–1981)