Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!nrl-cmf!ames!eos!labrea!glacier!jbn
From: jbn@glacier.STANFORD.EDU (John B. Nagle)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Subject: Re: modifying KCL memory scheme
Message-ID: <17862@glacier.STANFORD.EDU>
Date: 23 Nov 88 07:56:41 GMT
References: <63200002@uicbert.eecs.uic.edu>
Reply-To: jbn@glacier.UUCP (John B. Nagle)
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 12


      One might want to do this because it's cool, but it's not terribly useful
to do so.  The classic mark/sweep algorithm used in KCL is quite effective
in that environment, simply because compilation and editing take place
in other address spaces, and so the workspace does suffer massive garbage
transients induced by compilation.  The compiler runs as a separate LISP
image, and seldom garbage collects; the process exits and the space is
released.  Editing is entirely outside the LISP environment.  Overall,
this appears to be not significantly worse than the big all-in-one
environments, like Lucid's, at least as of summer, 1987.

					John Nagle