From: Patrick Logan <patrickdlogan@...>
Date: 2001-05-22T23:10:09+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:15542] Re: Newbie GC question


"Yukihiro Matsumoto" <matz@zetabits.com> wrote
in message news:990514841.125396.10689.nullmailer@ev.netlab.zetabits.com...
>
> |Lisp systems have traditionally had a function (often called GCTWA) in
order
> |to Garbage Collect Totally Worthless Atoms. (A symbol is one kind of atom
in
> |Lisp.) Doing this takes a lot of effort, and so is made a deliberate
action.
>
> Intersting.  But recent Lisps like Common Lisp or Scheme seem not to
> have the function.

True. The most recent use of GCTWA that I can recall is MacScheme (a
commercial Scheme for the Macintosh.) Perhaps this is due to the interning
mechanism using weak references. I have not read much source code of
garbage collectors for a decade.

--
Patrick Logan
mailto:patrickdlogan@home.com