After the leftovers of the first Render-Engine implementation attempt were removed,
only one further usage of `RefArray` remains to be sorted out: the ''Session Element Tracker''.
Luckily, this one did not actually make any use of the abstraction abilities
of the `RefArray` — rather it basically stated that ''the interface is a data structure...''
After considering ''what kind of data'' can be expected to live in this structure,
it became clear that ''this will be a symbolic representation''
And thus the container can be simply switched to a `std::vector`.
This change allows to retain the existing placeholder-implementation unaffected,
while it would be possible to maintain algebraic terms here, in future.
__As an asside__: in order to decide about a suitable replacement in the Session,
I had to consier a first draft regarding the intended usage
and the prospective way of content representation
* Lumiera source code always was copyrighted by individual contributors
* there is no entity "Lumiera.org" which holds any copyrights
* Lumiera source code is provided under the GPL Version 2+
== Explanations ==
Lumiera as a whole is distributed under Copyleft, GNU General Public License Version 2 or above.
For this to become legally effective, the ''File COPYING in the root directory is sufficient.''
The licensing header in each file is not strictly necessary, yet considered good practice;
attaching a licence notice increases the likeliness that this information is retained
in case someone extracts individual code files. However, it is not by the presence of some
text, that legally binding licensing terms become effective; rather the fact matters that a
given piece of code was provably copyrighted and published under a license. Even reformatting
the code, renaming some variables or deleting parts of the code will not alter this legal
situation, but rather creates a derivative work, which is likewise covered by the GPL!
The most relevant information in the file header is the notice regarding the
time of the first individual copyright claim. By virtue of this initial copyright,
the first author is entitled to choose the terms of licensing. All further
modifications are permitted and covered by the License. The specific wording
or format of the copyright header is not legally relevant, as long as the
intention to publish under the GPL remains clear. The extended wording was
based on a recommendation by the FSF. It can be shortened, because the full terms
of the license are provided alongside the distribution, in the file COPYING.
We use the memory address to detect reference to ''the same language object.''
While primarily a testing tool, this predicate is also used in the
core application at places, especially to prevent self-assignment
and to handle custom allocations.
It turns out that actually we need two flavours for convenient usage
- `isSameObject` uses strict comparison of address and accepts only references
- `isSameAdr` can also accept pointers and even void*, but will dereference pointers
This leads to some further improvements of helper utilities related to memory addresses...
The original version was sensible to static initialisation order,
which shold be resolved now, because of OptionalLink's dtor
explicitly disabling any further access.
