Okay. I really don't know much about garbage collectors, how they work, or what makes one particularly good or bad (other than the fact that it needs to be efficient execution-wise and manage memory wisely so that you don't use too much of it or do anything else that would be an overall negative for performance). However, from the comments here - both recent and in the past - it's pretty clear that D's garbage collector is fairly outdated. I would assume that that would be negative for performance - certainly it would mean that significant improvements could be made.
So, my question is this: what are the plans for the garbage collector? Is the intention to continue to improve it bit by bit, to give it a major overhaul at some point, to outright replace it at a later date, or something else entirely? If D is going to compete with C and C++, it needs to be highly efficient, and if the garbage collector isn't up to snuff, that's going to be a big problem. I'm not looking to complain about the current garbage collector - I really don't know how good or bad it is - but if it is rather poor (as I've gotten the impresison that it is - at least in some respects - from various discussions on it here), then I'd assume that it needs a major overhaul or replacement at some point. So, are there any specific plans with regards to that, or is that just something that may be considered in the future? - Jonathan M Davis
