Safe reference counting cannot be implemented as a library

[Zach the Mystic via Digitalmars-d]

On Tuesday, 27 October 2015 at 18:10:18 UTC, deadalnix wrote:
> I've made the claim that we should implement reference counting 
> as a library many time, so I think I should explicit my 
> position. Indeed, RC require some level a compiler support to 
> be safe. That being said, the support does not need to be 
> specific to RC. On fact, my position is that the language 
> should provide some basic mechanism on top of which safe RC can 
> be implemented, as a library.
>
> The problem at hand here is escape analysis. The compiler must 
> be able to ensure that a reference doesn't escape the RC 
> mechanism in an uncontrolled manner. I'd like to add such 
> mechanism to the language rather than bake in reference 
> counting, as it can be used to solve other problem we are 
> facing today (@nogc exception for instance).

Here's a link to the reference safety system I proposed some 
months ago:

http://forum.dlang.org/post/offurllmuxjewizxedab@forum.dlang.org

I'm very far from having the expertise needed to know whether it 
would be worth its weight in practice, but it was better to write 
it out than to keep it bottled up in my head. I hope it will be 
of some use.