[DUG] A change in upgrade policy coming from Embarcadero

[Jolyon Smith]

> I was trying to be funny rather than accurate :)

Likewise.  Tomorrow is the weekend.  :)


> It's an analogy that breaks down pretty quickly.

Automotive ones usually do, yet they also seem deceptively applicable when
we first come up with them.  I'm as guilty as anyone on that score.  :)


> He also added that he only drove a manual because that is 
> what the F1 drivers used, so I rapidly lost interest in his opinion.

I'm guessing he hasn't followed F1 for a few years!

To be fair tho, they do use a deterministic *semi* auto system.  That is,
they trigger an up/down shift and the box responds but takes care of the
mechanics of shifting

Which is exactly what *I* use for memory management.  I have a mix of
resources that are managed using ref counting and others that require
explicit management - in some cases I've arranged things so that I can
choose the most appropriate in a given scenario (without mixing the two for
a given instance of that resource, obviously).

The lifetime management is still deterministic (when the ref count hits 0,
the resource dies and cleans itself up) but the mechanics and the details
are taken care of for me.


I guess that's why GC doesn't appeal *to*me*... I appreciate the power and
flexibility that manual memory management provides but at the same time I'm
not always forced to put up with the drudgery that that entails.

So GC offers me nothing much that I don't already have but takes away
something that I *do* have.  <shrug>