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Object

Tcl_Obj(3)                  Tcl Library Procedures                  Tcl_Obj(3)



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NAME
       Tcl_NewObj,   Tcl_DuplicateObj,   Tcl_IncrRefCount,   Tcl_DecrRefCount,
       Tcl_IsShared, Tcl_InvalidateStringRep - manipulate Tcl objects

SYNOPSIS
       #include <tcl.h>

       Tcl_Obj *
       Tcl_NewObj()

       Tcl_Obj *
       Tcl_DuplicateObj(objPtr)

       Tcl_IncrRefCount(objPtr)

       Tcl_DecrRefCount(objPtr)

       int
       Tcl_IsShared(objPtr)

       Tcl_InvalidateStringRep(objPtr)

ARGUMENTS
       Tcl_Obj   *objPtr   (in)      Points to an object; must have  been  the
                                     result  of a previous call to Tcl_NewObj.
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INTRODUCTION
       This man page presents an overview of Tcl  objects  and  how  they  are
       used.   It  also describes generic procedures for managing Tcl objects.
       These procedures are used to create and copy objects, and increment and
       decrement  the  count  of references (pointers) to objects.  The proce-
       dures are used in conjunction with ones that operate on specific  types
       of objects such as Tcl_GetIntFromObj and Tcl_ListObjAppendElement.  The
       individual procedures are described along with the data structures they
       manipulate.

       Tcl's dual-ported objects provide a general-purpose mechanism for stor-
       ing and exchanging Tcl values.  They largely replace the use of strings
       in  Tcl.   For example, they are used to store variable values, command
       arguments, command results,  and  scripts.   Tcl  objects  behave  like
       strings  but  also  hold an internal representation that can be manipu-
       lated more efficiently.  For example, a Tcl list is now represented  as
       an  object  that  holds  the list's string representation as well as an
       array of pointers to the objects for each  list  element.   Dual-ported
       objects  avoid  most  runtime  type conversions.  They also improve the
       speed of many operations since an appropriate representation is immedi-
       ately  available.   The  compiler  itself uses Tcl objects to cache the
       instruction bytecodes resulting from compiling scripts.

       The two representations are a cache of  each  other  and  are  computed
       lazily.   That is, each representation is only computed when necessary,
       it is computed from the other representation, and, once computed, it is
       saved.   In  addition,  a  change in one representation invalidates the
       other one.  As an example, a Tcl program doing integer calculations can
       operate  directly  on a variable's internal machine integer representa-
       tion without having to constantly convert between integers and strings.
       Only  when  it needs a string representing the variable's value, say to
       print it, will the program regenerate the  string  representation  from
       the  integer.   Although  objects  contain  an internal representation,
       their semantics are defined in terms of strings: an  up-to-date  string
       can  always be obtained, and any change to the object will be reflected
       in that string when the  object's  string  representation  is  fetched.
       Because  of  this  representation  invalidation and regeneration, it is
       dangerous for extension writers to access Tcl_Obj fields directly.   It
       is  better to access Tcl_Obj information using procedures like Tcl_Get-
       StringFromObj and Tcl_GetString.

       Objects are allocated on the heap and are referenced using a pointer to
       their Tcl_Obj structure.  Objects are shared as much as possible.  This
       significantly reduces storage requirements because some objects such as
       long  lists  are  very  large.  Also, most Tcl values are only read and
       never modified.  This is especially true for procedure arguments, which
       can  be shared between the caller and the called procedure.  Assignment
       and argument binding is done by  simply  assigning  a  pointer  to  the
       value.   Reference  counting  is  used  to determine when it is safe to
       reclaim an object's storage.

       Tcl objects are typed.  An object's  internal  representation  is  con-
       trolled  by  its  type.   Seven  types  are  predefined in the Tcl core
       including integer, double, list, and bytecode.  Extension  writers  can
       extend the set of types by using the procedure Tcl_RegisterObjType .


THE TCL_OBJ STRUCTURE
       Each  Tcl object is represented by a Tcl_Obj structure which is defined
       as follows.
              typedef struct Tcl_Obj {
                int refCount;
                char *bytes;
                int length;
                Tcl_ObjType *typePtr;
                union {
                   long longValue;
                   double doubleValue;
                   VOID *otherValuePtr;
                   struct {
                     VOID *ptr1;
                     VOID *ptr2;
                   } twoPtrValue;
                } internalRep;
              } Tcl_Obj;
       The bytes and the length members together hold an object's string  rep-
       resentation,  which  is  a  counted  or  binary string that may contain
       binary data with embedded null bytes.  bytes points to the  first  byte
       of  the  string  representation.  The length member gives the number of
       bytes.  The byte array must always have a null after the last byte,  at
       offset  length;  this allows string representations that do not contain
       nulls to be treated as conventional null-terminated C strings.  C  pro-
       grams  use  Tcl_GetStringFromObj  and  Tcl_GetString to get an object's
       string representation.  If bytes is NULL, the string representation  is
       invalid.

       An object's type manages its internal representation.  The member type-
       Ptr points to the Tcl_ObjType structure that describes  the  type.   If
       typePtr is NULL, the internal representation is invalid.

       The internalRep union member holds an object's internal representation.
       This is either a (long) integer, a double-precision floating point num-
       ber,  a  pointer to a value containing additional information needed by
       the object's type to represent the object, or two arbitrary pointers.

       The refCount member is used to tell when it is safe to free an object's
       storage.  It holds the count of active references to the object.  Main-
       taining  the  correct  reference  count  is  a  key  responsibility  of
       extension  writers.   Reference counting is discussed below in the sec-
       tion STORAGE MANAGEMENT OF OBJECTS.

       Although extension writers can directly access the members of a Tcl_Obj
       structure,  it  is  much  better  to use the appropriate procedures and
       macros.  For example, extension writers should  never  read  or  update
       refCount  directly; they should use macros such as Tcl_IncrRefCount and
       Tcl_IsShared instead.

       A key property of Tcl objects is that they  hold  two  representations.
       An object typically starts out containing only a string representation:
       it is untyped and has a NULL typePtr.  An object  containing  an  empty
       string  or  a copy of a specified string is created using Tcl_NewObj or
       Tcl_NewStringObj respectively.  An object's string value is gotten with
       Tcl_GetStringFromObj   or   Tcl_GetString  and  changed  with  Tcl_Set-
       StringObj.  If the object is later passed to a procedure like  Tcl_Get-
       IntFromObj that requires a specific internal representation, the proce-
       dure will create one and set the object's typePtr.  The internal repre-
       sentation  is computed from the string representation.  An object's two
       representations are duals of  each  other:  changes  made  to  one  are
       reflected in the other.  For example, Tcl_ListObjReplace will modify an
       object's internal representation and the next call to Tcl_GetStringFro-
       mObj or Tcl_GetString will reflect that change.

       Representations  are recomputed lazily for efficiency.  A change to one
       representation made by a procedure such as  Tcl_ListObjReplace  is  not
       reflected  immediately in the other representation.  Instead, the other
       representation is marked invalid so that it is only regenerated  if  it
       is  needed  later.   Most C programmers never have to be concerned with
       how this is done and simply use procedures such  as  Tcl_GetBooleanFro-
       mObj  or Tcl_ListObjIndex.  Programmers that implement their own object
       types must check for invalid representations and  mark  representations
       invalid  when necessary.  The procedure Tcl_InvalidateStringRep is used
       to mark an object's string representation invalid and to free any stor-
       age associated with the old string representation.

       Objects  usually  remain  one type over their life, but occasionally an
       object must be converted from one type to another.  For  example,  a  C
       program  might  build  up  a string in an object with repeated calls to
       Tcl_AppendToObj, and then call Tcl_ListObjIndex to extract a list  ele-
       ment  from  the  object.  The same object holding the same string value
       can have several different internal representations at different times.
       Extension  writers  can  also  force an object to be converted from one
       type to another using the Tcl_ConvertToType procedure.   Only  program-
       mers  that  create new object types need to be concerned about how this
       is done.  A procedure defined as part of the object type's  implementa-
       tion  creates  a  new internal representation for an object and changes
       its typePtr.  See the man page for Tcl_RegisterObjType to  see  how  to
       create a new object type.


EXAMPLE OF THE LIFETIME OF AN OBJECT
       As  an  example  of  the  lifetime of an object, consider the following
       sequence of commands:
              set x 123
       This assigns to x an untyped object whose bytes member  points  to  123
       and length member contains 3.  The object's typePtr member is NULL.
              puts "x is $x"
       x's  string  representation  is  valid (since bytes is non-NULL) and is
       fetched for the command.
              incr x
       The incr command first gets an  integer  from  x's  object  by  calling
       Tcl_GetIntFromObj.  This procedure checks whether the object is already
       an integer object.  Since it is not, it converts the object by  setting
       the  object's  internalRep.longValue member to the integer 123 and set-
       ting  the  object's  typePtr  to  point  to  the  integer   Tcl_ObjType
       structure.   Both  representations  are now valid.  incr increments the
       object's integer internal representation then  invalidates  its  string
       representation  (by  calling  Tcl_InvalidateStringRep) since the string
       representation no longer corresponds to the internal representation.
              puts "x is now $x"
       The string representation of x's object is needed  and  is  recomputed.
       The  string  representation  is  now 124.  and both representations are
       again valid.


STORAGE MANAGEMENT OF OBJECTS
       Tcl objects are allocated on the heap and are shared as much as  possi-
       ble  to  reduce  storage  requirements.   Reference counting is used to
       determine when an object is no longer needed and can safely  be  freed.
       An  object  just created by Tcl_NewObj or Tcl_NewStringObj has refCount
       0.  The macro Tcl_IncrRefCount increments the reference  count  when  a
       new  reference  to  the  object is created.  The macro Tcl_DecrRefCount
       decrements the count when a reference is no longer needed and,  if  the
       object's  reference  count drops to zero, frees its storage.  An object
       shared by different code or data structures has refCount  greater  than
       1.   Incrementing  an object's reference count ensures that it won't be
       freed too early or have its value change accidently.

       As an example, the bytecode interpreter shares argument objects between
       calling  and called Tcl procedures to avoid having to copy objects.  It
       assigns the call's argument objects to the procedure's formal parameter
       variables.   In  doing  so,  it calls Tcl_IncrRefCount to increment the
       reference count of each argument since there is now a new reference  to
       it  from  the formal parameter.  When the called procedure returns, the
       interpreter calls Tcl_DecrRefCount to decrement each argument's  refer-
       ence  count.  When an object's reference count drops less than or equal
       to zero, Tcl_DecrRefCount reclaims its storage.   Most  command  proce-
       dures  do  not have to be concerned about reference counting since they
       use an object's value immediately and don't retain  a  pointer  to  the
       object  after  they return.  However, if they do retain a pointer to an
       object in a data structure, they must be careful to increment its  ref-
       erence count since the retained pointer is a new reference.

       Command  procedures that directly modify objects such as those for lap-
       pend and linsert must be careful to copy a shared object before  chang-
       ing  it.  They must first check whether the object is shared by calling
       Tcl_IsShared.  If the object is shared they must  copy  the  object  by
       using  Tcl_DuplicateObj;  this  returns a new duplicate of the original
       object that has refCount 0.  If the object is not shared,  the  command
       procedure  "owns"  the  object  and can safely modify it directly.  For
       example, the following code  appears  in  the  command  procedure  that
       implements  linsert.  This procedure modifies the list object passed to
       it in objv[1] by inserting objc-3 new elements before index.
              listPtr = objv[1];
              if (Tcl_IsShared(listPtr)) {
                listPtr = Tcl_DuplicateObj(listPtr);
              }
              result = Tcl_ListObjReplace(interp, listPtr, index, 0, (objc-3), &(objv[3]));
       As another example, incr's command procedure  must  check  whether  the
       variable's  object  is  shared  before  incrementing the integer in its
       internal representation.  If it is shared, it needs  to  duplicate  the
       object  in  order  to  avoid  accidently  changing values in other data
       structures.


SEE ALSO
       Tcl_ConvertToType,     Tcl_GetIntFromObj,     Tcl_ListObjAppendElement,
       Tcl_ListObjIndex, Tcl_ListObjReplace, Tcl_RegisterObjType


KEYWORDS
       internal  representation,  object, object creation, object type, refer-
       ence counting, string representation, type conversion



Tcl                                   8.0                           Tcl_Obj(3)