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> these types of data structures are not possible in C++ as they are in other languages, due to lack of GC or tail recursion[0]

The link doesn't really explain why though. I mean, I'm willing to believe this is true until proven otherwise - it's safe to assume Milewski knows what he's talking about - but I'd love to see a proper explanation.

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It is in fact incorrect. The incorrect assumption is nested structure implies nested destructor calls. This can be avoided by ensuring each node in the structure does not destroy the next node_ptr (explicitly or more likely implicitly). Instead, the destruction has to happen more manually (internally to the overall data structure - not by the user). If the structure only recurses on one child, it can be performed as a loop.

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