orphaned object

[TerryWang]

Hi,
Is there anyone who has heard of, and knows the definition of "orphaned object" in computer science? I cannot be quite sure about it, and it doesn't seem to make any sense if I describe it as an object which is an orphan, since orphan refers to a person, not an object, right? So, if anyone knows it, please just give me a brief discription.
A million thanks.

 

[Nullomore]

i'm not 100% sure about this, but i believe orphaned objects are bits of information that get left behind on your computer when you do certain things like delete a program. For example, if you delete a program from your computer but it doesn't get deleted completely, it may leave a few files or pieces of files that you can't find when you look in the directory. I think in general this is bad since it takes up space that you can't recover.

I think it also happens when the directories that organize the files gets messed up. Then you get orphaned files that you can't find anymore.

Also, in Microsoft Word, if you type up a paper and it turns out that the length is 8 pages but the last page only has 1 line of text on it, that 1 extra line is called an orphan.

 

[sarcie]

I know that in this field they speak of "parent" directories - these are main folders from which subfolders stem. In this case an "orphaned" file is one that has no "parent" directory.

 

[apblopes]

Are you talking in a "object oriented programming" context? If so, an orphaned object is an object which has no more references to it, and because of that is lost in memory. In Java programming language, for instance, the 'garbage colector' is the responsible for removing these objects from memory.
If you give me some context, maybe I can explain it better to you.

 

[TerryWang]

Thanks a lot to all of you. Now I can roughly grasp the idea of "orphaned object". Since I am translating UI text, I have to collect some informations on internet when there isn't an equivalent in chinese. Your information is very helpful to me. Thanks again.