Transparent local and distributed memory management system

A method for reclaiming memory allocated to a target object copied from a remote machine to a local machine, said remote machine and local machine having stored therein a first plurality of objects, the method comprising the steps of:

• creating an autorelease object, said autorelease object containing a pointer to said target object;
• said remote machine and local machine containing a second plurality of objects currently using said target object, said second plurality of objects comprising at least said autorelease object and at most said first plurality of objects;
• creating a reference count in said target object, said reference count having a value corresponding to said second plurality;
• and
• reclaiming memory allocated to said target object when said reference count equals zero.

A method for reclaiming memory allocated to a target object wherein a remote machine and a local machine have stored therein a first plurality of objects, the method comprising the steps of:

• creating an autorelease object, said autorelease object containing a pointer to said target object;
• said remote machine and local machine containing a second plurality of objects currently using said target object, said second plurality of objects comprising at least said autorelease object and at most said first plurality of objects;
• and
• said remote machine creating a proxy object of said target object, said remote machine supplying said proxy object to said local machine, and said autorelease object holding a reference to said proxy object.