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It's not so easy because what happens if you have code like this:

  static File globalFile;
  
  void register_file(File aFile)
  {
      globalFile = aFile;
  }
  
  void myMethod()
  {
      disposable File myFile = new File(somePath);
  
      register_file(myFile);
  }
If you answer, "add referencing counting", reference counting isn't perfect because you can create cyclic references.

The only reason RAII works in C++ is because you can refer to an object by value and separately by reference. You can create stack-based objects that have a defined scope.

You really can't have this in a language that always treats objects only by reference.



My answer would be to create a shortcut in the existing reference system of the gc. Invoke a subset of the gc which checks a reduced list of object references made from that scope or deeper.

Reference counted systems only work if you don't create cyclic (strong) references, so that argument is moot. In fact, reference counted systems can deal with resource objects easily so long as the compiler/interpreter ensures that pending autoreleases are executed when unwinding the stack during an exception.




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