This issue was originally filed by kguggisberg...@gmail.com

What steps will reproduce the problem?

1. Run
   library clock;
   import "dart:isolate";

clock() {
  int i=0;
  tick() {
    print("tick ...");
    i++;
    if (i == 2)return;
    new Timer(1000, (timer) => tick());
  }
  new Timer(1000, (timer) => tick());
}

main() {
  spawnFunction(clock);
}

This programs terminates immediately. It doesn't print anything
to the console.

1. Run the following slight modification (note the commented line at
   the end of main()):

library clock;
import "dart:isolate";

clock() {
  int i=0;
  tick() {
    print("tick ...");
    i++;
    if (i == 2)return;
    new Timer(1000, (timer) => tick());
  }
  new Timer(1000, (timer) => tick());
}

main() {
  spawnFunction(clock);
  // could be var 'p = port', or 'port.receive(null)' or any other
  // expression including receive port 'port'
  port;
}

This program prints
tick ...
tick ...
to the console and doesn't terminate.

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
It's strange that there has to be an explicit reference to 'port'
only to keep the main isolate alive.

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?

• Linux karl-VirtualBox 3.2.0-35-generic-pae #­55-Ubuntu SMP Wed Dec 5 18:04:39 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
• Dart VM version: 0.1.2.0_r16645_karl (Fri Jan 4 22:08:18 2013)

Please provide any additional information below.