One reason you'd choose ref counting is because it's deterministic behavior, whereas you lose that granularity with gc, even if you did a gc cleanup.
I see great reasons for both systems being useful, but both systems also bring their own warts.
Yes, ref counting affects cache and branch prediction, but gc is a whole complete subsystem running in parallel with your main code, constantly cleaning up after you. It will always depend upon the application which will determine what's best for that application.
Some languages lean heavily one way than the other too. Scripting with ref counting would be a nightmare, as would running a garbage collector on an 8bit micro. Since the article's talking C & C++, then of course a pro ref counting stance makes sense.
Just yesterday I had to disable anti fingerprinting I'd enabled in Firefox because despite having a solid IP and and existing cookies to login to Google, it's security system rejected me, even after answering security questions. Turn off fingerprinting and I could log in.
So, this is a round about way of agreeing with the hidden dark patterns that Google are bringing to the web. It must stop.
> The suicide rate for children is twice what it is for children during months when school is in session than when it’s not in session,” according to Dr. Gray. “That’s true for suicide completion, suicide attempts and suicidal ideation, whereas for adults, it’s higher in the summer.
It seems that families are particularly under stress if such observances can be made. As a single white guy, I find this a bit alarming because I've always had this notion that a family unit would be an easier way to ride out deep depression, rather than not. It just goes to show.
In my country (Oz) we had a referendum a few decades back about a national ID card, which failed to pass. I for one am against any form of centralised ID system. The basic premise (of the time) was, "if you want to know me, here I am". The government department of Birth, Deaths and Marriages goes to some lengths to ensure that these 3 things are not tied to any one number. Ironically, the government got what it wanted when it introduced a Tax File Number and has bled into some other systems like banking, but thankfully it's not as bad as the U.S's SSN.
I seem to recall reading here on HN a few weeks back how surnames came into existence: it was because the (? Italian) government wanted to track taxes. Before that everyone had several ways of naming themselves: John, John son of Joe, John of someplace, John the carpenter, etc. Personally, I really like that because I'm not just "one thing", but am a person who has different aspects.
I see great reasons for both systems being useful, but both systems also bring their own warts.
Yes, ref counting affects cache and branch prediction, but gc is a whole complete subsystem running in parallel with your main code, constantly cleaning up after you. It will always depend upon the application which will determine what's best for that application.
Some languages lean heavily one way than the other too. Scripting with ref counting would be a nightmare, as would running a garbage collector on an 8bit micro. Since the article's talking C & C++, then of course a pro ref counting stance makes sense.