> The problem is that it's not usefully deterministic once you add in exceptions, shared pointers, move semantics, lambda captures, etc.
No, it really is, even in the presence of the things you mentioned. That’s the whole point.
> Being explicit about memory management isn't a goal. […]
I get the impression that you’re confusing explicit and manual memory management. They’re not the same.
> Do you really see no alternatives between dumping all memory-management complexity on the programmer and a full tracing GC?
Of course I do, but the alternatives aren’t without their own problems. I’m curious how Rust will fare but Objective C’s ARC, while attractively simple, has performance implications, and then there’s the problem with cycles.
No, it really is, even in the presence of the things you mentioned. That’s the whole point.
> Being explicit about memory management isn't a goal. […]
I get the impression that you’re confusing explicit and manual memory management. They’re not the same.
> Do you really see no alternatives between dumping all memory-management complexity on the programmer and a full tracing GC?
Of course I do, but the alternatives aren’t without their own problems. I’m curious how Rust will fare but Objective C’s ARC, while attractively simple, has performance implications, and then there’s the problem with cycles.