[ncmncm]

> the ballast concept seems like a quite hacky solution to me.

"Quite a hacky solution" describes every single detail of every scrap of code connected in any way to GC. It is the whole point of the enterprise. If hacky solutions make you unhappy, your only route to happiness is to run very far away.

A lot gets done with very hacky solutions, and you will never need to throw a rock very far to hit somebody who swears by them. Those of us who don't haven't time to get that work done, so for most of the world's work, it's hacks or nothing.