Comment by 9rx

> To the C language and to the C compiler, there are no linked lists

But are most certainly able to use one. Just as they can use a garbage collector. You are quite right that these are not provided out of the box, though. If you want to use them, you are on your own. Both Limbo and Rust do provide a garbage collector to use out of the box, though, so that's something different.

> The specification spends quite a while outlining object liveness and rules for when garbage is allowed to be collected. WeakRefs, FinalizationRegistries, the KeptObjects list on the agent record, ...

But, again, does not specify use of a garbage collector. It could use one, or not. That is left up to the implementer.

> it is perfectly valid to have an implementation of a "garbage collector" that is a no-op that never collects anything

It's perfectly valid as far as the computer is concerned, but in the case of Go not spec-compliant. Obviously you don't have to follow the spec. It is not some fundamental law of the universe. But if you want to be complaint, that is not an option. I get you haven't actually read the spec, but you didn't have to either as this was already explained in the earlier comment.

> This is how languages specify garbage collection

That is how some languages specify how you could add garbage collection if you so choose. It is optional, though. At very least you can always leak memory. Go, however, explicitly states that it is garbage collected, always. An implementation of Go that is GC-less and leaks memory, while absolutely possible to do and something the computer will happily execute, does not meet the conditions of the spec.

> I'm done

Done what? It is not clear what you started.