DIP60: @nogc attribute

[via Digitalmars-d]

On Tuesday, 22 April 2014 at 18:48:04 UTC, Steven Schveighoffer 
wrote:
> I mean not like I can't because I don't want to or don't have 
> time, but can't as in I lack the skill set :) It's interesting 
> to debate, and I get the concepts, but I am not a CPU/cache 
> guy, and these things are really important to get right for 
> performance, since ref counting would be used frequently.

I think RC performance unfortunately is very hardware dependent. 
So, it involves testing, benchmarking etc… Still, I think these 
discussions are good because they are opportunities to look at 
what others do (like Objective-C) which is educational (at least 
for me).

The trouble I have with ref counting is that the future of HW is 
uncertain, but that can be held against GC too. Take for instance 
Phi with 80 cores and a crossbar interconnects (?), how does that 
affect memory management? Unfortunately I have no personal 
experience with Phi so my take on it is rather vague…

But if ARC takes a long time to get right I think one should 
consider effects of upcoming HW when considering for/against. 
Maybe Go's CSP model is better for Phi. Maybe not.  I don't know, 
but I think it is an interesting topic,  because 4-8 cores is not 
going to be enough in the next decade. I think…