An exegesis of Walter's reference counted slice

[Steven Schveighoffer via Digitalmars-d]

On 2/26/15 11:56 AM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> On 2/26/15 8:44 AM, Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
>> On 2/24/15 3:03 PM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
>>> On 2/24/15 11:55 AM, Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
>>>> Note, you need to GC.addRange all the elements if the type has
>>>> references, or else you cannot have GC pointers in the array. For
>>>> example, an array of class references could potentially result in those
>>>> references being collected before the array is gone.
>>>>
>>>> Ironically, if those elements are references, but are reference counted
>>>> references, then you wouldn't need to addRange. An interesting
>>>> problem...
>>>
>>> Could you please add a detailed issue about this? Thanks. -- Andrei
>>>
>>
>> I'm not sure what you mean by 'this'. As far as I can tell, it isn't a
>> bug in GC but a bug in your dpaste code.
>
> I'm referring to the "interesting problem" of adding addRange for some
> but not all types. -- Andrei

OK, but I don't know where to add that :( RC isn't supported by D today. 
You mean add it to a DIP? Add it to the docs?

I don't think it's mechanically checkable, BTW. If you have an array of 
pointers, each pointer may point at a GC-allocated block, or a C 
malloc-allocated block. I suppose at the time of setting an element, you 
can addRange if necessary. But the cost for that I think far outweighs 
the benefit of using RC.

-Steve