> Automatic garbage collection doesn't even require a garbage collector -- the monolithic piece of code that performs the scanning and reclamation of objects -- it simply requires freeing the programmer from the task of managing the storage of an object.
Can you back that up? I'd like to see a source that disconnects garbage collection the feature from a runtime garbage collector the implementation of that feature.
Independent of the semantic dispute, I don't think you understand what ARC, the iOS 5 feature, actually is. It's not a technology that "frees the programmer from the task of managing the storage for an object". Just to start with, that is a decision that can only be made at runtime, and as has been discussed ARC is a static-time feature.
Can you back that up? I'd like to see a source that disconnects garbage collection the feature from a runtime garbage collector the implementation of that feature.
Independent of the semantic dispute, I don't think you understand what ARC, the iOS 5 feature, actually is. It's not a technology that "frees the programmer from the task of managing the storage for an object". Just to start with, that is a decision that can only be made at runtime, and as has been discussed ARC is a static-time feature.