Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!udel!new
From: new@udel.EDU (Darren New)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk
Subject: Why SYMBOLS?
Message-ID: <16286@estelle.udel.EDU>
Date: 9 Apr 90 18:50:37 GMT
Reply-To: new@ee.udel.edu (Darren New)
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Delaware
Lines: 12

I've been wondering why Smalltalk-80 assures that a given symbol will
always retain the same object number even when nothing is referencing
that symbol.  I understand the desirability of saying that the same
literal will always get the same object, but to insist that this
happens even when there is no reference to the symbol seems
unnecessary.  I have a compiler that compiles Estelle into Smalltalk.
It generates a new SYMBOL for each of the items in the Estelle.  When I
throw away that Estelle code, I'm left with many K of symbols that
nobody is referencing.  Over time, I wind up with thousands of random
symbols left over from previous compilations. Is there an easy and safe
way to dispose of these symbols?
		      -- Darren