I was investigating how Pointers work in DM, and I came to discover that no matter what -- a pointer to a memory address never increased the reference count for that particular data structure. This is very convenient.
For now, example line of code works:
var/list/test_list = list(1, 2)
mob/verb/TestList()
world << "Ref Count for Test List: [refcount(test_list)]"
mob/var/storelist
mob/var/storelist_pointer
mob/verb/TestListRef()
storelist = test_list
mob/verb/TestListRef2()
storelist_pointer = &test_list
mob/verb/PrintList()
world << (*storelist_pointer)[2]
Meaning DM provides the ability for weak references! However, this is not permissible for certain objects -- particularly atoms. While it IS possible to create a pointer to a mob. BYOND is not able to allow you to access any member functions or variables defined under the atom.
Meaning, this would not work:
mob/Click()
usr.mob_pointer = src
mob/verb/PrintPointerName()
world << "[(mob_pointer):name]"
My Solution
The solution is simple -- allow for pointers to be able to access variables and/or member procedures. All that would be required would be for the pointer to be properly typed so that the compiler wouldn't get confused.
By enabling this feature, you give users the ability to easily create weak references -- which would insanely useful for a variety of libraries and functions. I discovered this as I began to draft some ideas for an animation/effect_manager.
Oddly, when I reference a filter in this way, I CAN access it's member variables by using the : or . operator.