Garbage Collection for Systems Programmers

[Adam Wilson]

On Thursday, 11 April 2024 at 07:09:00 UTC, Ogi wrote:
> On Tuesday, 9 April 2024 at 16:56:13 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
>> That's what @nogc is for.
>
> Mine detectors are helpful but it would be nice if there were 
> less mines in my backyard.

And there it is. This is where we always end up in the pro-GC vs. 
anti-GC debate. The anti-GC side eventually ends up with some 
version of "if only we could just get rid of the GC, then my life 
would finally be great."

The number of "mines" is not going to get smaller. It can't. It 
will probably only grow. D is a memory safe language, of which 
the GC is a cornerstone component, without the GC it is no longer 
a memory safe language. You have tools to avoid the GC, but even 
so, you're going to have to do more work to avoid it than if you 
don't. That's what you're signing up for when you go for manual 
memory management.

It really is that simple.