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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: fac41,9a0ff0bffdf63657 X-Google-Attributes: gidfac41,public X-Google-Thread: f43e6,9a0ff0bffdf63657 X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,9a0ff0bffdf63657 X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,4b06f8f15f01a568 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: jstok@bogus-address.apana.org.au (Jason Stokes) Subject: Re: Why C++ is successful Date: 1998/08/07 Message-ID: <6qg3on$kjq$2@reader1.reader.news.ozemail.net>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 378997010 References: Organization: OzEmail Ltd. Newsgroups: comp.lang.eiffel,comp.object,comp.software-eng,comp.lang.ada Date: 1998-08-07T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- In article , Robert Dewar wrote: >Most certainly! GC introduces a huge risk for incorrect programs. Garbage >collectors assume that the pointer structure of a program is correct. If >it is corruptede, garbage collectors can cause horrible havoc. Question: how does the pointer structure of a program get corrupted? Not by being "incorrect", since a language that implements garbage collection (properly) doesn't give programs control over the pointer structure of objects in memory. That's a compiler managed detail. So, all you are saying is that programs can't be guaranteed to fufil their specification if they are compiled with a buggy compiler or if they run on memory hardware that's prone to errors. That isn't a garbage collection problem, it's a general problem of implementation. Perhaps you are thinking of languages like C++ that have pointers and manual memory management and hence offer eminent chances for incorrect programs to corrupt their pointer structure with dangling references and memory leaks. If so, you are right; 100% safe garbage collection for C++ is indeed impossible. Not so for other languages. - -- Jason Stokes: jstok@valis.apana.org.au See my homepage: http://bluedog.apana.org.au/~jstok/index.html for my PGP key. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGPfreeware 5.0i for non-commercial use Charset: noconv iQCVAwUBNcuTPDXsitsNFJm1AQG6yAP/Z7Pv4yIYJB55igj6bWAQ0KlY0cwpz384 OAMoiIy8N1iqY6vHQfFdHfRJcH28wLEYIBlmAFtns1Smw6XiF0hfXt9jVUqDG2Ve nv/MojblTEtAMGuvca7BafwreOYVUJM5nbfX4nW3ADi/BXX7TL4IgFBCBIiCkEEm dOhgsCmNHbI= =2Qe7 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----