Python 2.0

[Graham Matthews]

Graham Matthews wrote:
> Why is it so hard for people to see that adding a mark sweep collector
> *ON TOP OF* the existing ref count scheme essentially changes nothing.
> All the current ref count behaviour that people love will stay. The
> only additional behaviour will be that circular refs are mopped up
> correctly.
Vladimir Marangozov (Vladimir.Marangozov at inrialpes.fr) wrote:
: Why don't you try implementing it?
: There's nothing more convincing than good working code.
: 
: If you try, I suspect that not we, but you'll realize that it's not so
: immediate and that there would be other additional effects, either
: inacceptable or undesirable.

How does one respond to the above? The old "I suspect" line. Well I don't
suspect because:

a) many many languages have garbage collection outlined exactly as I 
have proposed and they all work just fine. 

b) I work on a product which pretty much does exaclty what I outlined
for a collection scheme, and it works beautifully. Moreover it contains
many similarites with Python (the need to interface to C, complex
objects, etc). 

c) I have implemented 3 collectors in my "coding life", so I have some
experience.

You on the other hand just "suspect that I will realise that it's not so 
immediate"? Do you have any basis for these suspicions? For example have
you ever implemented a reference counting mark sweep collector, maybe
with colouring. 

I am sorry to sound sooo sarcastic, but what can I reply to "I suspect ...".
I put up facts, and you put up "I suspect ..."
: 
graham
-- 
                  A cat named Easter
              He say "will you ever learn"
              Its just an empty cage girl
                 If you kill the bird