[compiler.services.ReferenceCountedObject<uinteger> = {
    increment = IncRefCount,
    decrement = DecRefCount,
    lifecycle = managed
}] class RefCountedObject

    '' Construct the object and initalize the refcount to 1
    constructor(refCount as uinteger ptr)
        if (refCount = null) then
            m_refCount = new uinteger(1)
        else
            m_refCount = refCount
            IncRefCount()
        end if
    end constructor

    ''
    '' destructor should only be called when refcount reaches 0
    '' for ref counted objects I think compiler will simply call
    '' DecRefCount when out of scope. Even when explicitly
    '' delete obj ?????
    private destructor
        assert(m_refCount <> null and *m_refCount = 0)
        delete m_refCount
        m_refCount = 0
    end destructor

    '' Increment the reference count
    '' include some kind of guard to protect the operation
    sub IncRefCount
        *m_refCount += 1
    end sub

    '' decrement the reference count
    '' include some kind of guard to protect the operation
    sub DecRefCount
        *m_refCount -= 1
        ' destroy ?
        if (*m_refCount = 0) then
            delete @this
        end if
    end sub

    '' get reference count
    function GetRefCount as uinteger
        assert(m_refCount <> null)
        return *m_refCount
    end function

    '' get the reference count ptr
    function GetRefCountPtr as uinteger ptr
        return m_refCount
    end function

    '' the reference count variable
    private m_refCount as uinteger ptr

end class