From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu From: "Thomas Bushnell, BSG" Message-ID: <87zo4mu9a5.fsf@becket.becket.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii References: <20011213190251.3117F199BB@mail.cse.psu.edu> Subject: Re: [9fans] pascal, TeX Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2001 10:14:43 +0000 Topicbox-Message-UUID: 36f6e4e8-eaca-11e9-9e20-41e7f4b1d025 forsyth@caldo.demon.co.uk writes: > i suspect that's because the Pascal language took the novel approach > of providing neither guaranteed garbage collection nor a portable > operator to free memory without it. Umm, isn't "free" the portable operator to free memory? Pascal implementations are free to use GC (and the language was carefully designed to allow it, by prohibiting hidden aliasing), and I think there have been some that use it. Unfortunately, programs can't rely on GC, so they still have to call free at the right times and do all the annoying and expensive bookkeeping that GC is designed to make unnecessary. You end up with the worst of both worlds: no aliasing, and you still can't rely on GC. Thomas