From: billwolf@hubcap.clemson.edu (William Thomas Wolfe,2847,)
Subject: Re: Garbage Collection
Date: 12 Dec 88 18:19:13 GMT [thread overview]
Message-ID: <3848@hubcap.UUCP> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 65475@ti-csl.CSNET
From article <65475@ti-csl.CSNET>, by gateley@m2.csc.ti.com (John Gateley):
>> Also, I disagree with the claim that a lot of effort is involved;
>> in my experience, DESTROY routines are among the easiest to code.
>> Usually, the ADT is defined recursively, lending itself to a very
>> easy recursive destruction procedure; [...]
>
> This method is fine, as long as no structures are shared. [...]
> [...] if your programming style never uses shared structure, then you
> don't need GC.
Precisely.
Structural sharing is nothing more than a euphemism for hacking.
It is the spatial equivalent of what hackers enjoy doing with time
in the name of efficiency, in their unmitigated zeal to violate every
form of abstraction, to throw all traces of readability and reliability
to the winds.
If GC were prohibited, it would infuriate all those who enjoy hacking
with space as opposed to time. Good. Let them use C. Ada is the
language of those who appreciate that "abstraction is the fundamental
tool with which complexity can be effectively managed", and recognize
that to violate an abstraction (rather than design another which is
more appropriate to their needs) is to be penny wise but pound foolish.
Folks, space management in Ada is NOT that difficult. I had problems with
space management in Pascal, but Ada-based ADTs have basically made it
into a non-issue. The real challenges which remain are problems which
are inherent in the language itself, such as getting local ADTs to be
properly destroyed as an automatic consequence of a block exit.
I agree that existing tools for detecting space-wasting ADTs are
inadequate, but let's call for better debugging tools rather than
going about advocating the practice of spewing garbage.
Bill Wolfe
wtwolfe@hubcap.clemson.edu
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1988-12-12 18:19 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 88+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1988-12-03 22:53 Collective response to := messages Erland Sommarskog
1988-12-04 20:41 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1988-12-05 5:47 ` Richard A. O'Keefe
1988-12-05 12:45 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1988-12-06 1:54 ` Richard A. O'Keefe
1988-12-06 20:43 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1988-12-07 15:22 ` Collective response to := messa ron
1988-12-11 19:11 ` Garbage Collection William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1988-12-12 5:29 ` John Gateley
1988-12-12 18:19 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847, [this message]
1988-12-13 1:02 ` Alexander Klaiber
1988-12-13 18:37 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1988-12-13 23:36 ` Alexander Klaiber
1988-12-14 3:26 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1988-12-14 17:16 ` Stephe Leake
1988-12-15 14:43 ` Thomas P. Morris
1988-12-14 23:30 ` John Gateley
1988-12-15 19:25 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1988-12-19 16:12 ` John Gateley
1988-12-20 19:34 ` Bill Wolfe
1988-12-16 0:49 ` Keys are references, too (was Re: Garbage Collection) Badger BA 64810
1988-12-18 18:42 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1988-12-13 20:22 ` Garbage Collection William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1988-12-14 6:40 ` Richard A. O'Keefe
1988-12-14 17:43 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1989-01-02 17:51 ` ryer
1989-01-05 8:31 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1989-01-06 16:58 ` ryer
1989-01-08 19:24 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
1999-08-18 0:00 garbage collection Ronald Ayoub
1999-08-18 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-08-19 0:00 ` Gautier
1999-08-19 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-08-20 0:00 ` Keith Thompson
1999-08-20 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-08-18 0:00 ` tmoran
1999-08-18 0:00 ` Keith Thompson
1999-08-19 0:00 ` Tucker Taft
1999-08-19 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-08-19 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-08-20 0:00 ` tmoran
1999-08-20 0:00 ` Keith Thompson
1999-08-20 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-08-20 0:00 ` Keith Thompson
1999-08-21 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-08-21 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-08-21 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-08-21 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-08-21 0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1999-08-21 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-08-18 0:00 ` Gisle S�lensminde
1999-08-18 0:00 ` Pascal MALAISE
1999-08-20 0:00 ` David Botton
1996-10-24 0:00 Garbage Collection H Brett Bolen
1989-01-10 19:16 Erland Sommarskog
1989-01-11 16:10 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1989-01-06 22:17 Erland Sommarskog
1989-01-08 18:40 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1989-01-09 3:56 ` Barry Margolin
1989-01-09 16:22 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1989-01-09 19:00 ` Barry Margolin
1989-01-10 2:50 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1989-01-11 9:22 ` Barry Margolin
1989-01-11 16:01 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1989-01-11 18:21 ` Barry Margolin
1989-01-12 2:43 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1989-01-15 7:14 ` Barry Margolin
1989-01-05 23:26 Erland Sommarskog
1988-12-31 0:04 Erland Sommarskog
1989-01-05 8:13 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1988-12-28 19:20 Erland Sommarskog
1988-12-30 0:52 ` Bill Wolfe
1988-12-26 23:37 Erland Sommarskog
1988-12-27 21:24 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
1988-12-28 16:09 ` Snorri Agnarsson
1988-12-30 0:46 ` Bill Wolfe
1988-12-27 22:24 ` Bob Hathaway
1988-12-18 20:12 Erland Sommarskog
1988-12-20 19:04 ` Bill Wolfe
1988-12-13 20:07 Erland Sommarskog
1988-12-15 19:13 ` William Thomas Wolfe,2847,
[not found] <145@krafla.rhi.hi.is>
[not found] ` <272@fang.ATT.COM>
1988-03-29 13:47 ` From Modula to Oberon Denis Fortin
1988-03-30 15:32 ` Lawrence Crowl
1988-03-30 22:41 ` Hans Boehm
1988-03-31 6:27 ` Garbage Collection Richard Harter
1988-03-31 19:49 ` Hans Boehm
1988-04-01 5:43 ` Richard Harter
1988-04-01 18:43 ` Hans Boehm
1988-04-04 23:14 ` 00704a-Liber
1986-03-16 22:24 Garbage collection "Alexander L. Wolf"
[not found] <1979@mit-eddi.UUCP>
[not found] ` <2144@mit-eddie.UUCP>
1984-06-18 19:28 ` Abstraction In Ada Jon Mauney
1984-06-22 7:47 ` Doug Alan
1984-06-25 2:15 ` brad
1984-07-17 10:34 ` garbage collection Eric Smith
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