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Fil's Unbelievable Garbage Collector

(fil-c.org)
597 points pizlonator | 8 comments | 05 Sep 25 00:55 UTC | HN request time: 1.205s | source | bottom
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CMay ◴[05 Sep 25 08:18 UTC] No.45136222[source]▶
I love C, performance and security. Between this garbage collector and the capability enforcement, this is appealing. I've thought a few times about what a more secure C would look like, brushing over capability concepts here and there, but I don't belong near compiler code.

How hard would it be to support Windows?

replies(1): >>45136276 #
1. lucideer ◴[05 Sep 25 08:28 UTC] No.45136276[source]▶
<off-topic> Took me far too long to understand your opening sentence; eventually realised the Oxford comma would've helped me out. Rare to see a clear example in the wild.
replies(2): >>45136317 #>>45136383 #
2. falcor84 ◴[05 Sep 25 08:34 UTC] No.45136317[source]▶
I would have also accepted a colon.
replies(1): >>45136409 #
3. CMay ◴[05 Sep 25 08:45 UTC] No.45136383[source]▶
The potential for misinterpretation didn't escape me, but I was also confident that there was sufficient context to understand it. An Oxford comma there would have suggested a more careful cadence if it were spoken, which is not what I wanted.

As you said, it can be rare to see a case where it truly is ambiguous, but the context here negates that well enough.

replies(1): >>45136465 #
4. kccqzy ◴[05 Sep 25 08:49 UTC] No.45136409[source]▶
That would change the meaning.
replies(1): >>45136525 #
5. falcor84 ◴[05 Sep 25 09:07 UTC] No.45136525{3}[source]▶
Why, what do you mean? My understanding was that it's a list of subjects of affection, so for clarity, I would rewrite

> I love C, performance and security.

as

> I love: C, performance and security.

How would it change the meaning? What am I missing?

replies(1): >>45136668 #
6. fithisux ◴[05 Sep 25 09:16 UTC] No.45136574{3}[source]▶
" a malware backdoor and a lot of worthless eye candy."

best description ever

7. CMay ◴[05 Sep 25 09:31 UTC] No.45136668{4}[source]▶
Your colon does not really solve ambiguity. They likely thought you meant "I love C: performance and security." which would make it more explicit, but it would also change the meaning and thus be incorrect.

If I thought it was ambiguous enough to really try to fix, what I would probably default to is an elaboration. For example: "I love the intersection of C, performance and security." The meaning is not exactly the same, but it is more the same than your colon.

replies(1): >>45137175 #
8. falcor84 ◴[05 Sep 25 10:54 UTC] No.45137175{5}[source]▶
I suppose my reading was essentially as "These are a few of my favorite things", i.e. that I love each of them, and it would be quite nice if I could enjoy all of them at the same time, but it's not that I only love their intersection.