The Garbage Collection Handbook

(gchandbook.org)

142 points | by andsoitis 6 hours ago

5 comments

  • OptionOfT 5 hours ago
    My favorite story about garbage collection: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20180228-00/?p=98...
    • Findecanor 29 minutes ago
      I would call that a region-based memory allocator... Only that it has a single region, ever.
    • whartung 2 hours ago
      They do that in other places.

      As I heard the tale, on the Standard Missile, they don't recirculate the hydraulic fluid, they just spit out as the missile flies. It's a wonderful engineering solution.

      • pfdietz 1 hour ago
        And on the Falcon 9, the hydrocarbon fuel is used as hydraulic fluid, then just dumped back into the fuel tank.
    • dana321 2 hours ago
      now that is what i call the ultimate in garbage collection technology
  • charcircuit 4 hours ago
    I wish the author section provided what production garbage collectors the authors worked on. There's plenty of nonintuitive things you can learn in the real world, so a book including those would be both interesting and useful.
  • Verdex 1 hour ago
    I had Hosking as a professor. Iirc, it was an okay experience. Compilers course I believe.

    When the handbook came out, I bought it because "hey, I know that guy". Ultimately, I don't think it's necessary, but having a more in depth knowledge of garbage collection and the problems in the space occasionally comes in handy.

    For example, what implication do finalizers have on garbage collection design? Reading about that was kind of an eye opener.

  • iainctduncan 5 hours ago
    I have this, it is very well written and thorough. Highly recommend!
  • nhatcher 3 hours ago
    Great book. Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35492307

    (387 points, 166 comments)