Forgive me for the intrusion, for a) I am not what one would consider an experienced Cocoa developer, b) I have not used GC in Cocoa projects yet, c) my experience with GCs is limited to Java, and d) I have read most, but not all, the posts in this thread.
Having disclaimed myself, this is what I would like to contribute to this thread.
Presumably, the advantages and disadvantages of GC and retain/release are only really significant and worth-considering in large and/or complex projects. Assuming that to be the case, then what would a developer prefer?
1) Yield some control to the GC subsystem and gain on maintainability, or
2) Stick to retain/release and have to maintain a potentially extremely complicated object graph, with potentially large and interlocking retain cycles?
I don't know about other developers, but I'd rather choose 1. It seems to me that micro-managing memory can get out-of-hand rather easily on large projects. By adopting a GC approach, I'd be relinquishing some control, yes, but I'd be gaining the peace of mind of not having to debug a potential monster.
And the above doesn't even consider the fact, pointed out by others already, that retain/release doesn't guarantee that objects will be released when you think they are going to.
On Jun 27, 2009, at 2:49 AM, James Gregurich wrote:
you do whatever floats your boat. I'll do what floats mine.
I think my boat sunk, 'cause I was using integers rather than floats. (Sorry... I just thought the thread could use a bit of levity just now) Wagner _______________________________________________ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to arch...@mail-archive.com
