> I'm interested in hearing about alternative memory models that are an improvement;
Intel 80286 introduced segmented protected mode where you had the option of placing each of programs objects (struct, array, string, even a single variable, if necessary!) into its own segment described by privilege access level (0-3, RO or RW) and length. So you had hardware-based array length checking. Access an out-of-bounds index, BOOM - segfault!
This is actually not incompatible with C's memory model (it requires that only individual objects be stored in contiguous memory blocks), but is incompatible with how most C programs were written at the time so it never caught on.
Also, you had to distinguish between "near" and "far" pointers, there were few segment registers, etc. But had Intel developed segmentation further, and had C programmers adapted, we could have ended up in the world where you could run programs with performance of C and safety of Java.
Intel 80286 introduced segmented protected mode where you had the option of placing each of programs objects (struct, array, string, even a single variable, if necessary!) into its own segment described by privilege access level (0-3, RO or RW) and length. So you had hardware-based array length checking. Access an out-of-bounds index, BOOM - segfault!
This is actually not incompatible with C's memory model (it requires that only individual objects be stored in contiguous memory blocks), but is incompatible with how most C programs were written at the time so it never caught on.
Also, you had to distinguish between "near" and "far" pointers, there were few segment registers, etc. But had Intel developed segmentation further, and had C programmers adapted, we could have ended up in the world where you could run programs with performance of C and safety of Java.