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From: Robert A Duff <bobduff@world.std.com>
Subject: Re: Better support for garbage collection
Sender: bobduff@world.std.com (Robert A Duff)
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Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 21:59:45 GMT
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Date: 2001-03-17T21:59:45+00:00
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"Nick Roberts" <nickroberts@adaos.worldonline.co.uk> writes:

> Java? What about BASIC? Good old Microsoft BASIC (for the Z80 -- remember
> those?), that fitted into 8K ROM, had GC, as did a variety of other BASICs
> (some of them even tinier). And they were pretty popular for a period. I
> think your statement might upset a lot of LISP enthusiasts, too. (Not to
> mention Smalltalk, Prolog, xBASE, and probably many others ;-)

Yeah, you're right about BASIC.  As to the others, I don't think they're
exactly "popular" (even if that upsets the folks who like them -- it
upsets *me* that C is more popular than Ada!).  But I can't quote any
facts and figures, so I could be very wrong.

> Maybe not in so many words, but actually there are a lot of people who claim
> that a static typing system causes more trouble than it is worth. 

I know, but those folks are wrong.  (Now I've *really* upset the Lisp
folks.  ;-) )

>...I am on
> this side of that particular fence, but I see their point (e.g. it can
> reduce the size of the source code by several times, which in itself, it
> could be claimed, improves readability).

> I think, in the end, I will take the advice of both Brian and Bob, and
> simply implement GC myself (in my own compiler which I'm writing for AdaOS).

We'll all be holding our collective breaths.  ;-) ;-)

> I just thought it would be preferable to have a widely agreed framework
> within which to design it first.

If there is at least one implementation of the framework, it has a
better chance of being implementable.

- Bob