Smart pointers instead of GC?

[Matthias Einwag]

> A function that takes a borrowed pointer &T can also be called 
> with an owning pointer ~T, an RC pointer Rc<T>, or a GC pointer 
> Gc<T>. They all convert neatly to a &T. One function to rule 
> them ... err .. accomodate all.
No. That would be nice to have, but it's actually not the case. 
The only type that automatically coerces to a borrowed reference 
is an owned pointer. For value references you fist have to create 
a borrowes ref through
&val. For Gc and Rc you have to pass something like 
ptr.borrow().borrow_mut ().borrow()