A reference-counted object that requires explicit deallocation. <p> When a new {@link ReferenceCounted} is instantiated, it starts with the reference count of {@code 1}. {@link #retain()} increases the reference count, and {@link #release()} decreases the reference count. If the reference count is decreased to {@code 0}, the object will be deallocated explicitly, and accessing the deallocated object will usually result in an access violation. </p> <p> If an object that implements {@link ReferenceCounted} is a container of other objects that implement {@link ReferenceCounted}, the contained objects will also be released via {@link #release()} when the container's reference count becomes 0. </p>