16 Apr
2009
16 Apr
'09
11:01 p.m.
It's the lack of a programming model that integrates destructors and peoples' legitimate expectations that they will be called to release non-memory resxources. What can you say about the non-memory resources owned by a GC'd object that contains, say, a mutex?
Personally, I don't see why resources like mutexes or files should be managed like memory. Resources like that are "binary" resources: they have two states (locked/unlocked, opened/closed), which is perfectly suited for RAII.
I think the question David was asking is; if a GC object is holding a mutex that is currently holding a lock, then when does that lock release, or how does that lock release? The GC may run in the future, and in the meanwhile, that lock is frozen.