Simple smobs are created by adding the
DECLARE_SIMPLE_SMOBS(Classname) to the declaration
+ A simple smob is only optionally under the reign of the GUILE
+ garbage collector: its usual life time is that of a normal C++
+ object. While a smobbed_copy () is fully under control of the
+ garbage collector and will have its mark_smob function called during
+ garbage collection, an automatic variable of this type will not have
+ mark_smob called, but rather have its memory image in the call stack
+ scanned for contained non-immediate SCM values. Anything requiring
+ more complex mark_smob behavior is not suitable for a simple smob.
+
+ When you create a smobbed_copy, the _copy_ is fully managed by the
+ GUILE memory system. As a corollary, multiple smobbed_copy calls
+ yield multiple GUILE objects generally not eq? to each other.
+
2. Complex smobs are objects that have an identity. These objects
carry this identity in the form of a self_scm () method, which is a
- SCM pointer to the object itself.
+ SCM pointer to the object itself. Complex smobs are always under
+ control of the GUILE memory system.
The constructor for a complex smob should have 3 steps: