[Haskell-cafe] Re: Laziness leaks

[Achim Schneider]

Paul Johnson <paul at cogito.org.uk> wrote:

> Achim Schneider wrote:
> > There won't ever be a space leak without a time leak nor a time leak
> > without a space leak. I'd just call it a leak.
> >   
> Actually I think you can have a space leak without a time leak.  For 
> instance if every time around the main loop I cons data onto a linked 
> list that never gets freed then I have a space leak.  If the list
> never gets used (or more realistically, if the program only ever uses
> the first N entries) then there is no time leak.
> 
Sure there is: you leaked time while constructing the list.

The whole topic seems to degenerate into nit-picking for border cases.

One could define a leak as "a property of an error-free program
resulting in non-optimal performance", or much more concise,
"a trap no sufficiently smart programmer runs into".

-- 
(c) this sig last receiving data processing entity. Inspect headers for
past copyright information. All rights reserved. Unauthorised copying,
hiring, renting, public performance and/or broadcasting of this
signature prohibited.