[gclist] Finalizer flame wars.

Nick Barnes nickb@harlequin.co.uk
Fri, 10 May 1996 09:45:30 +0100


> > That's probably where we disagree. A tracing collector is an
> > incredible source of information thanks to the graph traversal it
> > performs. I think it can be worth adding hooks to the GC to allow
> > programs to take advantage of this information.
> 
> Please give examples. I'm fascenated. The one I want is "Why are you
> keeping this object alive?"

The first time I read this I assumed it was a joke, but I suppose with
weak pointers it could make sense. Weak pointers are, of course, a
very useful feature which render GCs non-transparent.

Nick B