Re: Garbage collection (was Re: JWZ on s/Java/Perl/)

[Sam Tregar]

On Mon, 12 Feb 2001, Dan Sugalski wrote:

> Perl needs some level of tracking for objects with finalization attached to
> them. Full refcounting isn't required, however.

I think I've heard you state that before.  Can you be more specific?  What
alternate system do you have in mind?  Is this just wishful thinking?

> Also, the vast majority of perl variables have no finalization
> attached to them.

That's true, but without static typing don't you have to treat them as if
they did?  At the very least you need to do a "is it an object with a
DESTROY" check at block boundaries.

> I do wish people would get garbage collection and finalization split in
> their minds. They are two separate things which can, and will, be dealt
> with separately.

2x the penalty, right?  Instead of a speed increase we carry the burden of
ref-counting in addition to the overhead of an alternate system.

-sam