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Glite Dictionary
🕰️ A short-lived thing 💾 A temporary link
ephemeron

ephemeron

9.9
A computer structure that links a key and value but lets the key be removed from memory when unused
  • noun
  • /ɪˈfɛmərən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ephemerón
  • When the key becomes unreachable, the language's ephemeron allows both key and value to be reclaimed.

Examples

  • Implementers chose an ephemeron so the value would not prevent unused objects from being garbage-collected.

  • The runtime uses an ephemeron to cache metadata that should disappear when the key is collected.

  • The ephemeron was removed from memory when the key was no longer reachable.

  • In programming, an ephemeron helps manage memory efficiently.

  • The runtime uses an ephemeron to manage data associations that can be deleted when no longer needed.

  • In garbage-collected systems, an ephemeron allows linked items to be freed once the key is unreachable.

  • Using an ephemeron can improve memory handling by ensuring that values do not retain keys that are no longer active.

Surface Forms

ephemeron singular
ephemerons plural

Morphology

ephemeron = ephemeral (semi-transparent) = ephemer + on

Derived from 'ephemeral' but the computing sense is a specialized metaphor whose precise technical behavior (garbage-collection semantics) is not fully predictable from the base word alone.

Etymology

Ephemeron comes from the Greek ephemeros, which means 'lasting for a day' and shares the root with ephemeral. In computing, an ephemeron is a data record that can disappear when its key is no longer used, so it does not keep the item alive.