Why is it OK to always hold strong references to consumers?

[backbone87]

Hi,

When i was comparing the graph algorithm with the Signals proposal and other Signal implementations like jotai I noticed that alien-signals always hold a strong reference to downstream signals, while others only hold strong downstream references when the downstream is being watched (directly or indirectly). This allows unused computeds to be GCed, e.g.:

const s = signal(0)
let c = computed(() => s())
c()
c = undefined
// while the function `c` is GCed, its `this` context ("the graph node") and its link remain entangled with `s` forever.

Is this an intentional design decision? If yes, why is it ok?

[WebReflection]

I've notice some heavy memory usage too ... not sure if this library leaks but it'd be great to be sure it doesn't ... happy to help around FinalizationRegistry or WeakRef and whatnot 👋