Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!otter.hpl.hp.com!otter!sfk From: sfk@otter.hpl.hp.com (Steve Knight) Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Subject: Re: Weak Reference in Common Lisp Message-ID: <1350027@otter.hpl.hp.com> Date: 23 Aug 90 10:05:25 GMT References: <81084@aerospace.AERO.ORG> Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, UK. Lines: 11 >> Some Common Lisp implementations ... If the only reference to an object >> is as the key in such a hash table it may be removed from the hash table >> (along with the value) and may then be GCed. > You *have* to mention that that would only be reasonable for EQ hash tables. > Not for EQUAL hash tables, or any other predicate you can think of. 99.9% true. You can use EQUAL "temporary" hash-tables to implement uniquely allocated datatypes (ie. values for which EQ implies EQUAL). Steve