[gclist] Re: gclist-digest V1 #41

[Robert A Duff]

> Does anyone know if the C++ standards committee, X3J16, is considering
> any proposals or entertaining discussions on adding garbage collection
> to C++?

How does one add garbage collection to a *language*?  Suppose the C++
standard say, "an implementation of C++ shall support gc".  Can you
write a test case that determines whether an alleged implementation
obeys the rule?

IMHO, gc is an implementation issue.  When we say "Lisp has garbage
collection, Pascal does not", we really mean "Typical implementations of
Lisp have gc, and if you want to sell a Lisp compiler, you'll be
embarrassed if you don't have it, but typical Pascal compilers don't
have it, and you can therefore get away with out it."

To put gc in a *language definition*, one would need a model of storage
usage that is far more detailed than is typical.

- Bob