> Indeed, .NET has interior pointers, and it doesn't cause any problem at all.
Are you sure about this (without using C# unsafe context)? I've spent a moment digging in C# documentation and been unable to confirm this.
Are you sure about this (without using C# unsafe context)? I've spent a moment digging in C# documentation and been unable to confirm this.
[1]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/language-refe...
[2]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/language-refe...
I think it matters for this argument.
You are arguing that designing a garbage collector which is concurrent, low latency (pauses < 5 ms), compacting, generational, and supports interior pointers, is easy.
You mentioned C#/.NET as an example, but C# doesn't have interior pointers (from heap to heap, not from stack to heap which is possible).
As far as I know, neither Java, .NET, Go, Haskell, OCaml, D, V8 or Erlang satisfies all these requirements at the same time.
I'm not saying it's impossible, and Ian Lance Taylor in the thread I linked earlier is not saying either. I'm just saying it's certainly hard.
If it would be so easy, then most languages would already have interior pointers and a concurrent, low latency, compacting, generational GC. That's the whole difference between "today" (as in your comment) and "tomorrow".