[fpc-devel] Proof of Concept ARC implementation

[Hans-Peter Diettrich]

Kostas Michalopoulos schrieb:
> On Mon, Oct 27, 2014 at 5:17 PM, Hans-Peter Diettrich 
> <DrDiettrich1 at aol.com <mailto:DrDiettrich1 at aol.com>> wrote:
> 
>     Then the compiler can safely generate refcounting code for *all*
>     objects and non-weak references, and the counting methods take care
>     of required operations
> 
> 
> Wouldn't that cause all objects to "pay" (both in terms of performance 
> and memory) for something that they don't use?

Right, that's why I suggest to keep both models separate. But the real 
runtime impact has to be benchmarked - it may be as low as with other 
managed types (AnsiString...), where nobody has complaints. Memory usage 
(4 bytes per object) should not matter, Delphi accepts it just for 
mobile devices!

> IMO it is better to fully 
> disallow subclasses from introducing reference counting than force 
> functionality on objects that they don't need to use.

It *looks* better, but has several issues.

DoDi