On Saturday, 2 May 2015 at 21:53:42 UTC, Martin Nowak wrote:
I never even needed dynamic memory allocation on a microcontroller.
For many typical uses of microcontrollers this is absolutely true. However, the 32-bit microcontrollers from ARM are much more powerful than the likes of AVR 8-bit microcontrollers in, for example, the Arduino Uno. Not all uses of microcontrollers are hard real-time, and these 32-bit ARM chips have processing power to spare.
I currently use them to build HMIs (Human Machine Interface, e.g. a GUI). If I'm just doing machine control, I have absolutely no need for dynamic memory allocation, but if I'm building a user interface that involves images, TrueType fonts, vector graphics, etc..., dynamic memory allocation is quite useful, if not essential.
I suggest refraining from requiring or preventing any feature, including garbage collection and exceptions. Rather, we can gradually make each feature available as the need arises, and the user can opt in and make their own tradeoffs.
Mike
