Re: a .NET alternative (GJC et al)

[Fergus Henderson <fjh at cs dot mu dot oz dot au>]

On 29-Jul-2001, Tom Lord <lord@regexps.com> wrote:
> [someone wrote:]
> >     For Java we'd definitely be interested in accurate GC.  
...
> >     People have added support for this to gcc in the distant past.
> 
> That's one approach.  Implementing it entirely outside of the compiler
> is another.  Some of the reasons I like the idea of doing it outside
> the compiler are that will be more widely useful, simpler, and less of
> a maintenance burdon on the future.

I think you mean entirely outside of the GCC back-end.  Obviously it will need
support from the language front-end for those languages which need GC.

Certainly it could be done without support from the GCC back-end.  But if
it is done that way, I think it is likely to be a lot less efficient.
For example, all local variables will need to be allocated on the stack
rather than in in registers, so that the GC can scan them and can update
them when objects move.

For most of us the main reason to use type-accurate GC rather than conservative
GC is to get better performance.  An approach like that would defeat the purpose.

-- 
Fergus Henderson <fjh@cs.mu.oz.au>  |  "I have always known that the pursuit
The University of Melbourne         |  of excellence is a lethal habit"
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>  |     -- the last words of T. S. Garp.