pointer to c array in Ruby

[John K]

Beginner's question: I'm creating a large C array using ALLOC_N and I
want to pass that pointer to different C extensions. I don't want to
create a Ruby array (i.e. using rb_ary_new4()) because I won't operate
on that array with any pure Ruby methods and I don't want the memcpy
overhead. How can I assign a variable to that pointer in Ruby and how
do I prevent any garbage collection of my array?

 

[Timothy Goddard]

http://www.whytheluckystiff.net/ruby/pickaxe/html/ext_ruby.html

This explains how to use Data_Wrap_Struct and how to manage garbage
collection. The issue is not so much preventing garbage collection as
making it possible.