[ANNOUNCE] Garbage collection for Python

[Michael Hudson]

Florian Weimer <fw at deneb.cygnus.argh.org> writes:

> Michael Hudson <mwh21 at cam.ac.uk> writes:
> 
> > Florian Weimer <fw at deneb.cygnus.argh.org> writes:
> > 
> > > nascheme at enme.ucalgary.ca (Neil Schemenauer) writes:
> > > 
> > > > I would rather get the bugs stomped out of my patch and get it
> > > > included in 1.6 or 1.7.  We can then remove the FAQ entry.  :)
> > > 
> > > Is it possible to extend your GC in a way which would permit the
> > > execution of several bytecode interpreters in multiple threads?
> > 
> > Eh?
> 
> With the reference counting scheme, you can't do that, because you
> have to synchronize access to the reference count, which would result
> in a major performance penalty.

Oh, right.  But:

1) Neil's scheme does not replace reference counting.
2) There are more things between the status quo and a free threaded
   interpreter than reference counting issues.

So the answer to your question is: "no".

Cheers,
Michael

-- 
  well, take it from an old hand: the only reason it would be easier
  to program in C is that you can't easily express complex  problems
  in C, so you don't.                   -- Erik Naggum, comp.lang.lisp