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by slimsag 3035 days ago
It's also worth mentioning WASM has no GC today.
2 comments

My amd64 and ARM CPUs also don't have it.

On languages where the algorithm is an implementation detail, one can make use of reference counting with a cycle collector, which are just a few hundred lines.

Implementing one is pretty simple, making it perform well is another matter.

Unlike your real processor though, you can't directly access memory or ensure its absolute location. You can make an advanced GC that is slow or a basic one that is not.
Which is good. You can always implement GC inside it, but personally, for performance-intensive computing, I do not want GC inside WASM unless eplicitly enabled.