Real Problems with Python
Vladimir Marangozov
Vladimir.Marangozov at inrialpes.fr
Mon Feb 14 13:57:37 EST 2000
Tim Peters wrote:
>
> [NeelK]
> > In the long run, the solution is to use a conservative garbage
> > collection algorithm (such as the Boehm collector),
>
> [Tim]
> > "No chance" in CPython [...]
>
> [François Pinard]
> > I'm not sure of the implications of the above, but one sure thing
> > is that I very much like the current implications of reference
> > counting. When I write:
> >
> > for line in open(FILE).readlines():
> >
> > I rely on the fact FILE will automatically get closed, and very soon
> > since no other references remain. ...
>
> Yes, that's exactly the kind of thing that makes many CPython users
> consider RC to be "a feature". There's no reason at all to believe
> that CPython will ever give this up; even NeilS's BDW patch for CPython
> retains refcounting, simply for *speed* reasons (RC has excellent
> locality of reference, especially when trash is being created and
> recycled at high dynamic rates).
>
That last one is a good one. So far, nobody has shown any evidence that
LOR is good or bad when different objects are involved (except, I
remember,
some special cases like iterating over ints that happen to be allocated
close to each other). Better yet, nobody _can_ show such evidence as far
as one stays on top of a virtual memory manager.
make-that-simply-"RC-is-faster-than-the-alternatives"-<wink>-
-and-I'll-take-it-ly y'rs
--
Vladimir MARANGOZOV | Vladimir.Marangozov at inrialpes.fr
http://sirac.inrialpes.fr/~marangoz | tel:(+33-4)76615277 fax:76615252
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