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Python vs Ruby

D-Man dsh8290 at rit.edu
Mon Jan 29 11:13:38 EST 2001 
On Sat, Jan 27, 2001 at 01:00:06AM +0000, A.M. Kuchling wrote:
| On Fri, 26 Jan 2001 13:24:36 -0500, D-Man <dsh8290 at rit.edu> wrote:
| >Of course.  Mark-and-sweep is an algorithm for Garbage Collection and
| >Reference Counting isn't garbage collections.  Both gc and ref
| >counting are forms of /Automatic Memory Management/.
| 
| Hrm... In the Jones/Lins book on garbage collection, section 2.1 and
| chapter 3 are on reference counting, and they refer to it as "one of
| the classial garbage collection algorithms", which settles the matter

Hmm, ok.  I guess different people have different definitions for the
same word.  This can be confusing (or worse) in discussions.  (BTW, I
don't have any books on GC, I've just read a bunch of stuff on the
web;  also a class I took discussed automatic memory management during
one section)

| for me; clearly reference counting *is* a form of GC, just one with a
| sizable limitation that may or may not be a problem for a particular
| application.  
| 
| --amk

-D
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