Re: [PATCH 3/3] Documentation: document difference between release and free

From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Jul 24, 2024, 13:11 UTC
Message-ID: <ZqD9keTtimiqJnJP@tanuki>
In-Reply-To: <CAOLa=ZScBn+sMB7BWMpsS=Ld0sUW14Li5JVuKPGKtY91hVo4jA@mail.gmail.com>

On Wed, Jul 24, 2024 at 04:46:20AM -0700, Karthik Nayak wrote:

Show 9 quoted lines

> Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im> writes:
> 
> > We semi-regularly have discussions around whether a function shall be
> > named `release()` or `free()`. For most of the part we use these two
> > terminologies quite consistently though:
> >
> 
> I noticed there is also `clear()` used in some places. Should we also
> mention that we don't recommend using `clear()` WRT freeing memory?

In any case I think we should decide on eithe using `clear()` or using `release()` for consistency's sake. Which of both we use I don't quite care, but the following very shoddy analysis clearly favors `release()`:

    $ git grep '_clear(' | wc -l
    844
    $ git grep '_release(' | wc -l
    2126

So yeah, I'm happy to explicitly mention that `clear()` shouldn't be used in favor of `release()`.

Patrick