JuliaCon 2026

Handles can be used instead of explicitly using pointers or references to access objects. This is done by storing the objects of a given type in a Memory or Vector and using the handle as an index. With a suitable abstraction, which Handles.jl provides, it turns out that this combines attractive properties like being faster than object references in certain situations and being safer than regular indexing for a static set of objects. Therefore, handles provide a pattern which might be interesting to use in large parts of the Julia ecosystem where efficiency matters and certain constraints hold.