How to properly destroy a class.

Question

I'm trying to make multiple dynamically created MovieClip classes move across the stage and have created an ENTER_FRAME Event Listener in each one.
Usually, when I remove a MovieClip, I simply remove them from the container and splice their pointer from the array.
But it appears that doing this does not remove Event Listeners or even the functions I've writted inside the class and thus each "removed" MovieClip produces errors every frame. (Even without the errors, I would still not want those things running in the background)
So my question is rather simple, what is the best way of disposing of a MovieClip class (or classes in general) and making sure that no residues are left behind?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

it should.  but gc just doesn't work very well so i can't tell if it's any benefit to use weak references (even when you remove them).
try the code below the dotted line.  actually, comment out the line that nulls the movieclips so you can see that it only takes 10 or so iterations of f() to exceed 100kb of memory.  then uncomment the nulling line and retest.  you should see many more iterations, somewhere around 45.  so gc is occuring but you shouldn't see memory reach 100kb.  memory should reach some level and then hover around that level.
that's the best that gc does.  it's better than doing nothing but it doesn't work well.
i wouldn't expect any improvement on that by adding a weak listener but i see a benefit.  i just am not sure it's signifcant (and i'm not sure it's consistant) over no listener.
same adding a strong listener.
and you can add a weak and remove it.
and you can add a strong and remove it
at the end of all that all i can conclude is, gc doesn't work well.  the best gc i saw was adding a strong listener and NOT removing it.
i don't know if that's specific to my system.  and i don't know if that's specific to my system at the time i tested.  maybe with other background activity i would get a different result.
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.utils.Timer;
import flash.events.TimerEvent;
import flash.events.Event;
var tl:MovieClip = this;
var startNum:int = 0;
var n:int=10000;
var t:Timer = new Timer(30,0);
t.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER,f);
t.start();
f();
function f(e:TimerEvent=null):void {
    for (var i:int=startNum; i<n+startNum; i++) {
        tl["mc"+i] = new MovieClip();
        //tl["mc"+i].addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, cl,false,0,true);
        //tl["mc"+i].addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, cl);
        //tl["mc"+i].removeEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, cl);
        tl["mc"+i] = null
    startNum = i;
    var mem:Number = Math.round(System.totalMemory/1024);
    trace(startNum/n,mem)
    if(mem>100000){
        t.stop();
function cl(e:Event):void{