Question

take a look at the following code

var a = new View();
a = null;
....
class View {
    private var clip: MovieCLip

    public function View() {
        clip.addEventListener(...)
    }
}

will a be in memory after a = null? Does addEventListener adds a strong refernce?

Answer 1

Since all the references to clip are within a, GC will pick up both objects and cleanly remove them.

I’ve taken your example and used an ENTER_FRAME listener to create new Views in the same way you did:

If, however, clip were added to the stage, then it would continue to exist, and a would also not be removed:

You can use the useWeakReference parameter of addEventListener to prevent this from happening.