D programming language popularity

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad]

On Sunday, 8 November 2020 at 01:22:15 UTC, Paul Backus wrote:
> On Friday, 6 November 2020 at 23:16:53 UTC, IGotD- wrote:
>>
>> D should take the same route as Nim. Nim has several garbage 
>> collection algorithms and can swap them out as they see fit. 
>> Latest reference counting algorithm has been a success for Nim 
>> and the language just keep on improving because they have 
>> invested in good GC as well an architecture where they can 
>> continue to play with different approaches.
>>
>> GC is not bad but the language must support changing GC 
>> algorithms.
>
> D already supports changing GC algorithms. [1] Currently, there 
> are only two algorithms to choose from (conservative and 
> precise), but there's nothing stopping anyone from adding more.

Language semantics stops it. D cannot do precise GC with the 
current semantics, you need to locate all actual pointers, 
including those in unions. The default is essentially a boehm 
collector and the other one is semi-conservative, not precise...