Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by swsieber 3035 days ago
I was under the impression that WASM does not have one.
2 comments
steveklabnik 3035 days ago
Wasm doesn't have one yet, but it's a future extension to to spec.

You can, of course, compile your GC in today, and it will work. Wasm's integrated support will mean re-using the existing GC, which means smaller code size.

Side note: most people thought this would be a precursor to DOM support, but the new "host bindings" proposal opens up DOM support without needing GC support, and many people believe that now the former will land before the latter.

link
k__ 3035 days ago
Are GC implementations transparent for the languages?

Can Go simply run with the WASM GC or does it need some specific type of GC?

link
steveklabnik 3035 days ago
"the WASM GC" only exists as a proposal, and proposals can change before they land. I don't know enough about it to say, and even if I did, it might be invalid by the time things are actually accepted.

See https://github.com/WebAssembly/gc for the current proposal.

link
k__ 3034 days ago
Sure.

But one day, when there are implementations, can every language run with the WASM GC?

link
pjmlp 3035 days ago
No if you care about performance.

To go the extra mile in GC performance, the compiler and GC implementation have to collaborate, taking advantage of language specific features.

link
dragonwriter 3035 days ago
IIRC, WASM doesn't have one and, more importantly, has an architecture which makes implementing one on top of WASM efficiently difficult.
link