[thradams]

One issue I see with this approach (compiler leaking memory) is, for instance, if the requirements change and you need to utilize the compiler as a lib or service. For example, if the Cake source is used within a web browser compiled with Emscripten, leaking memory with each compilation would lead to a continuous increase in memory usage.

Additionally, compilers often offer the option to compile multiple files. Therefore, we cannot afford to leak memory with each file compilation.

Initially I was planning a global allocator for cake source. It had a lot of memory leaks that would be solved in the future.

When ownership checks were added it was a perfect candidate for fixing leaks. (actually I also had this in mind)

[jart]

True, but with some stuff you just ain't gonna need it. For example, chibicc forks a process for each input file. They're all ephemeral. So the fork/_exit model does work well for chibicc. You could compile a thousand files and all its subprocesses would just clean things up. Now needless to say, I have compiled some juicy files with chibicc. Memory does get a bit high. It's manageable though. I imagine it'd be more of an issue if it were a c++ compiler.

[thradams]

(I think preprocessor is the place where memory is used and released all the time while expanding macros.)

[jart]

It is.