[Dev] Re: refcounted

[John Anderson]

I suspect that pinning is the least of our portability problems moving 
our code to Java, given our use of multiple inheritance, datatypes like 
dictionaries, generators, python packages, exceptions (e.g. attribute 
errors), all those __ methods we override, the difference in argument 
passing conventions, wiring up objects at runtime, etc.:-)

John

Andi Vajda wrote:

>
>> Also, I was curious to know why you prefer to leave non-pinning 
>> default when we have no plans to use it and Ted, Morgen, Lisa and I 
>> prefer the opposite?
>
>
> As discussed with you several times before, the 'refcounted' mode, 
> just like the item stamping feature, is a, so far, non portable 
> python-only feature. And it's somewhat experimental still.
>
> Until I can see a way to extend it to another language such as Java - 
> ideas exist but remain to be proven - I don't want it to be the 
> default since it is a pervasive programming style change. As long as 
> this feature is not portable elsewhere, I do not want to promote it 
> since code written in refcounted style is difficult to port to 
> environments not supporting it - one has to figure out all the places 
> where pinning, the next best - or worse - solution, is to take place.
>
> If Chandler has no plans to ever use anything else, that's perfectly 
> fine, just don't, I have no objections to that. It is your responsible 
> choice as to
> how much portability you wish to build into the Chandler codebase. I 
> don't feel comfortable taking that responsibility by making it or 
> promoting it as the default.
>
> Furthermore, I don't think that it not being the default is putting 
> any undue burden on you or that your-life-is-made-any-harder this way. 
> In Chandler, there is one place where you set this, and in the unit 
> tests, one other.
>
> There are a number of other configuration flags that need to be set 
> when opening or creating a new repository and, as performance is 
> further focused on, I expect the number of such flags to increase and 
> these flags to become increasingly Chandler-specific.
>
> As cool as this feature is, I do not endorse it as long as I care 
> about portability.
>
> Andi..