From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.7 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_DATE, MSGID_SHORT,REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!gatech!hubcap!billwolf From: billwolf@hubcap.clemson.edu (William Thomas Wolfe,2847,) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Garbage Collection Message-ID: <4017@hubcap.UUCP> Date: 5 Jan 89 08:31:43 GMT References: <124000028@inmet> Sender: news@hubcap.UUCP Reply-To: billwolf@hubcap.clemson.edu List-Id: >From article <124000028@inmet>, by ryer@inmet.UUCP: > Currently, Ada neither requires nor precludes garbage collection. [...] > What are you (any of you) proposing? That ALL Ada compilers should have > garbage collection? Than no Ada compilers should be allowed to have it? > Each day I find a new collection of comments on this note, debating the > goodness of garbage collection in the abstract. I think that the Ada > language has already taken the only defensible position, and would be > happy to explain why if anyone wants to take a different concrete position. OK, I'll take the position that Ada should be defined such that no Ada compilers should be allowed to have garbage collection. I charge that GC encourages the production of sloppy code which is difficult to maintain and which compiles into permanently inefficient programs, that code can be written by space-conscious programmers at least as fast as by those who use GC as a crutch, and that such code will require less debugging time due to the more complete understanding of the problem which is possessed by a programmer who comprehends all aspects (both space and time) of his/her code, and that GC retards portability by making code non-reuseable from the perspective of real-time programmers. For all these reasons, I conclude that GC should be prohibited, just as the GOTO should be (but unfortunately, is not yet) prohibited. Your turn. Bill Wolfe wtwolfe@hubcap.clemson.edu