Dana has a subset of types that are connected to the language itself and are known to the compiler and runtime for various purposes. Here we cover two interface types in this group: Destructor and Service.

Destructors

An object is destroyed when there are no more references to it. When this happens, a special "destructor" function is invoked on that object if it declares one. A destructor is declared by an object by declaring a secondary interface of type Destructor:

component provides App(Destructor) {
    int number
    
    void Destructor:destroy()
        {
        }
    
    int App:main(AppParam params[])
        {
        return 0
        }
    }

This function can be used to perform any cleanup duties that should be done before the object is destroyed.

The Service interface

The Service interface is one which implies that a component wishes to be "started" and "stopped" when it joins and leaves the system. If a component provides this interface, the Service:start() function will be called before anything else, and the Service:stop() function will be called just before the component is unloaded from memory.

These two functions can be used to initialise and destroy parts of the component's static state.