Groups > comp.lang.java.programmer > #15490

Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector

From	"Aaron W. Hsu" <arcfide@sacrideo.us>
Subject	Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector
Newsgroups	comp.lang.java.programmer
References	(1 earlier) <jrgje5$e8p$1@dont-email.me> <6KSdnTwztJvtR0bSnZ2dnUVZ_t-dnZ2d@giganews.com> <jrgo11$3t6$1@dont-email.me> <_JmdnUu_Z-scJEHSnZ2dnUVZ_t6dnZ2d@giganews.com> <4fe27687$0$281$14726298@news.sunsite.dk>
Message-ID	<K9mdnVvXpcl4-37SnZ2dnUVZ_q6dnZ2d@giganews.com> (permalink)
Date	2012-06-21 13:24 -0500

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On Wed, 20 Jun 2012 21:19:01 -0400, Arne Vajhøj wrote:

> On 6/16/2012 12:51 PM, Aaron W. Hsu wrote:

>> In some languages (Chez Scheme) I can get quite explicit
>> control over when and how garbage collection occurs, which can make it
>> possible to do very fine grained things to avoid some of the corner
>> case problems that can manifest in garbage collected languages. 
> 
> What do you mean by corner case?

So, you mentioned that you thought real-time was not a corner case, but I 
guess I would consider it one compared to general purpose programming in 
the majority. However, there are other, less broad things where I have 
found it extremely helpful to have control of the collector. 

For instance, I implemented a number of weak pointer structures which 
required me to be able to extend what happened during collections. This 
can be done in user-space efficiently if there is an efficient way to 
extend the garbage collector and trigger events to occur on certain 
conditions.  This would be an example of a relatively obscure data 
structure that can be really useful in some situations.

On the other side, there are times when I know that I am going to be 
doing a number of very small, little allocations all in a row, and I do 
not want the GC to run during this tight loop, because it will cause a 
noticeable hit. I would rather delay the collector, consuming more memory 
until the end when I can explicitly trigger the collector at that point.

Or, I may know that some structure is going to be extremely long lived 
and I need to keep it out of the collector entirely. 

Finally, there are times when I want to do a large bulk allocation 
outside of the collector, and then selectively move certain things into 
the collected space, but still have a checked, high-level way of 
accessing data structures in the uncollected space. 

Now, all of these are corner cases to me because you can get by without 
them in most situations, unless you are trying to eek out all of the 
performance you can from your system. 

-- 
Aaron W. Hsu | arcfide@sacrideo.us | http://www.sacrideo.us
Programming is just another word for the lost art of thinking.

Thread

Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? "Aaron W. Hsu" <arcfide@sacrideo.us> - 2012-06-15 17:33 -0500
  Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? markspace <-@.> - 2012-06-15 15:55 -0700
    Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? "Aaron W. Hsu" <arcfide@sacrideo.us> - 2012-06-15 18:12 -0500
      Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? markspace <-@.> - 2012-06-15 16:31 -0700
        Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? "Aaron W. Hsu" <arcfide@sacrideo.us> - 2012-06-15 20:00 -0500
        Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-16 14:39 +0200
          Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? Daniel Pitts <newsgroup.nospam@virtualinfinity.net> - 2012-06-16 12:13 -0700
      Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-06-16 00:57 -0700
  Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-06-15 15:57 -0700
    Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? "Aaron W. Hsu" <arcfide@sacrideo.us> - 2012-06-15 18:12 -0500
  Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-06-15 20:19 -0400
    Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? "Aaron W. Hsu" <arcfide@sacrideo.us> - 2012-06-15 19:59 -0500
      Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-06-15 21:37 -0400
        Controlling the Garbage Collector "Aaron W. Hsu" <arcfide@sacrideo.us> - 2012-06-16 11:51 -0500
          Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-06-16 14:24 -0400
            Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector markspace <-@.> - 2012-06-16 12:24 -0700
              Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Daniel Pitts <newsgroup.nospam@virtualinfinity.net> - 2012-06-16 13:14 -0700
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-06-16 16:35 -0400
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector "Aaron W. Hsu" <arcfide@sacrideo.us> - 2012-06-16 19:43 -0500
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Wanja Gayk <brixomatic@yahoo.com> - 2012-06-23 13:36 +0200
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-23 15:39 +0200
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector markspace <-@.> - 2012-06-16 14:34 -0700
          Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-18 04:32 -0700
            Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-06-24 14:31 -0700
          Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-06-20 21:19 -0400
            Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector "Aaron W. Hsu" <arcfide@sacrideo.us> - 2012-06-21 13:24 -0500
              Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-06-21 11:37 -0700
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Fred Greer <fggreer@nospam.invalid> - 2012-06-21 21:20 +0000
              Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-06-21 15:24 -0400
              Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-21 23:46 +0200
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Jukka Lahtinen <jtfjdehf@hotmail.com.invalid> - 2012-06-25 15:28 +0300
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-06-25 09:05 -0400
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Andreas Leitgeb <avl@gamma.logic.tuwien.ac.at> - 2012-06-25 17:01 +0000
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-06-25 13:45 -0400
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-06-25 13:49 -0400
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-25 20:41 +0200
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Andreas Leitgeb <avl@gamma.logic.tuwien.ac.at> - 2012-06-26 12:25 +0000
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-26 06:46 -0700
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Andreas Leitgeb <avl@gamma.logic.tuwien.ac.at> - 2012-06-26 16:26 +0000
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-06-26 13:07 -0400
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-26 22:28 +0200
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Andreas Leitgeb <avl@gamma.logic.tuwien.ac.at> - 2012-06-26 23:49 +0000
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-06-26 18:20 -0700
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Highway to Hell <HtH49439112@gmail.com> - 2012-06-26 21:52 -0400
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-06-26 20:01 -0700
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Highway to Hell <HtH49439112@gmail.com> - 2012-06-26 23:23 -0400
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-06-27 09:05 -0700
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2012-06-27 20:15 +0000
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-06-27 13:52 -0700
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-06-27 13:41 -0700
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-06-27 19:02 -0700
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2012-06-28 21:45 +0000
                Re: [OT] Driver's license restrictions (Was: Controlling the Garbage Collector) Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-06-28 15:16 -0700
                Re: [OT] Driver's license restrictions (Was: Controlling the Garbage Collector) Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2012-06-29 02:10 +0000
                Re: [OT] Driver's license restrictions (Was: Controlling the Garbage Collector) Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-06-28 19:57 -0700
                Re: [OT] Driver's license restrictions glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2012-06-29 04:06 +0000
                Re: [OT] Driver's license restrictions Tim Slattery <Slattery_T@bls.gov> - 2012-06-29 08:35 -0400
                Re: [OT] Driver's license restrictions (Was: Controlling the Garbage Collector) Tim Slattery <Slattery_T@bls.gov> - 2012-06-29 08:33 -0400
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Tim Slattery <Slattery_T@bls.gov> - 2012-06-29 08:30 -0400
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2012-06-29 23:04 +0000
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Highway to Hell <HtH49439112@gmail.com> - 2012-06-27 16:53 -0400
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Leif Roar Moldskred <leifm@dimnakorr.com> - 2012-06-27 11:32 -0500
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Highway to Hell <HtH49439112@gmail.com> - 2012-06-27 16:54 -0400
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-06-27 11:45 -0700
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Highway to Hell <HtH49439112@gmail.com> - 2012-06-27 16:55 -0400
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2012-06-27 02:06 +0000
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Andreas Leitgeb <avl@gamma.logic.tuwien.ac.at> - 2012-06-27 16:34 +0000
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Leif Roar Moldskred <leifm@dimnakorr.com> - 2012-06-27 11:45 -0500
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Wanja Gayk <brixomatic@yahoo.com> - 2012-07-02 11:21 +0200
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-06-26 13:52 -0700
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Andreas Leitgeb <avl@gamma.logic.tuwien.ac.at> - 2012-06-26 23:40 +0000
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-06-26 16:48 -0700
              Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector markspace <-@.> - 2012-06-21 15:15 -0700
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-06-21 15:33 -0700
                Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector "Aaron W. Hsu" <arcfide@sacrideo.us> - 2012-06-21 21:24 -0500
              Re: Controlling the Garbage Collector markspace <-@.> - 2012-06-21 15:23 -0700
        Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? Wanja Gayk <brixomatic@yahoo.com> - 2012-06-17 15:49 +0200
    Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-06-16 01:00 -0700
      Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-06-16 01:04 -0700
  Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? Wanja Gayk <brixomatic@yahoo.com> - 2012-06-16 04:03 +0200
  Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? Kevin McMurtrie <mcmurtrie@pixelmemory.us> - 2012-06-15 22:27 -0700
    Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-16 14:39 +0200
      Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? Kevin McMurtrie <mcmurtrie@pixelmemory.us> - 2012-06-18 19:37 -0700
        Re: Recommendations for Lightweight Threading? Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-19 07:46 -0700

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