Accessing shorter-duration instances of activatable objects based on object references stored in longer-duration memory

A computer implemented method for accessing an instance of a recreatable object in shorter-duration memory based on a reference located in a longer-duration memory, wherein the shorter-duration memory is associated with a call, the method comprising the steps of:

• when a class is activated, generating, within said shorter-duration memory, a class object associated with the class;
• storing, within said class object, data for locating instances of recreatable objects associated with said class, wherein said data includes a pointer to an XREF pointers array;
• to dereference said reference located in a longer-duration memory, performing the steps of:
• determining that said reference located in a longer-duration memory is associated with said class;
• and
• using said data within said class object to locate said instance of said recreatable object.

A computer-readable storage medium stores instructions for accessing an instance of a recreatable object in a shorter-duration memory based on a reference to the instance of the recreatable object located in a longer-duration memory, wherein the shorter-duration memory is associated with a call, the computer-readable medium comprising instructions for performing the steps of:

• locating, within the shorter-duration memory, a context structure, wherein at least a portion of the context structure is passed as an argument to the call;
• locating an XREF pointers array based on data cached within the context structure, wherein the data cached within the context structure includes a reference to the XREF pointers array;
• determining whether the XREF pointers array includes a pointer associated with said reference to the instance of the recreatable object;
• and
• if the XREF pointers array includes a pointer associated with said reference to the instance of the recreatable object, then following said pointer to locate said instance within said shorter-duration memory.

A computer-readable storage medium stores instructions for accessing an instance of a recreatable object in shorter-duration memory based on a reference located in a longer-duration memory, wherein the shorter-duration memory is associated with a call, the computer-readable medium comprising instructions for performing the steps of:

• when a class is activated, generating, within said shorter-duration memory, a class object associated with the class;
• storing, within said class object, data for locating instances of recreatable objects associated with said class, wherein said data includes a pointer to an XREF pointers array;
• to dereference said reference located in the longer-duration memory, performing the steps of:
• determining that said reference located in the longer-duration memory is associated with said class;
• and
• using said data within said class object to locate said instance of said recreatable object.