Comment by pizlonator
1 year ago
Java is a totally different language, so it’s not even remotely a competitor in this space. Also Java is quite fast, even compared to C or Rust.
Fil-C is all about being able to run existing C/C++ code that nobody is going to rewrite, not even in a dialect like Circle, since the burden of annotations will be too great.
For existing C++ just using a checked std::vector and Boehm GC can get you quite a long way.
Nowhere near to memory safety. There are so many exploits left on the table if you do what you say.
Not to mention that Boehm isn’t sound on modern C compilers. Conservative stack scanning can be foiled by optimizations that are valid from the compiler’s perspective.
No, but it can be done without rewriting code. There's a lot of C++ out there that was perhaps once performance sensitive but hasn't been for years due to hardware improvements, or was perhaps never sensitive but used C++ just for team consistency etc. Windows is full of code like that for example. But, there's no funding to rewrite it. For situations like that, things which boost safety but don't require rewrites of any kind are waaaay under-rated.
Compilers should definitely have a mode that stops them breaking conservative stack scanning. GC is a drop-in fix for so many memory safety problems it's a vital weapon in the toolbox. Combined with checked array and vector dereferences, you can get a long way without needing Rust or Circle style rewrites.
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