refcounting
nounUK /ˈrɛf.kaʊn.tɪŋ/
US /ˈrɛf.kaʊn.tɪŋ/
A way for a computer to keep track of how many things are using a piece of memory so it knows when to clean it up.
The program uses refcounting to free memory as soon as the last object lets go of it.
OTHER MEANINGS
2. A technique in which each object stores a count of the references pointing to it.
Refcounting adds a small counter to every object in the heap.
3. The act of tallying references in a bibliography or citation list.
The librarian spent the afternoon refcounting the sources in the thesis.
4. A manual tally of how many times something is mentioned or cited.
Their refcounting of the survey responses revealed a few duplicates.