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A time- and space-efficient garbage compaction algorithm

Published: 01 August 1978 Publication History

Abstract

Given an area of storage containing scattered, marked nodes of differing sizes, one may wish to rearrange them into a compact mass at one end of the area while revising all pointers to marked nodes to show their new locations. An algorithm is described here which accomplishes this task in linear time relative to the size of the storage area, and in a space of the order of one bit for each pointer. The algorithm operates by reversibly encoding the situation (that a collection of locations point to a single location) by a linear list, emanating from the pointed-to location, passing through the pointing locations, and terminating with the pointed-to location's transplanted contents.

References

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Cheney, C.J. A nonrecursive list compacting algorithm. Comm. ACM 13, 11 (Nov. 1970), 677-678.
[2]
Conrad, W.R. A compactifying garbage collector for ECL's nonhomogeneous heap. Tech. Rep. 2-74, Ctr. for Res. in Compt. Tech., Harvard U., Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 1974.
[3]
Fenichel, R.R., and Yochelson, J.C. A LISP garbage collector for virtual-memory computer systems. Comm. ACM 12, 11 (Nov. 1969), 611-612.
[4]
Hansen, W.J. Compact list representation: Definition, garbage collection and system implementation. Comm. ACM 12, 9 (Sept. 1969), 499-507.
[5]
Hart, T.P., and Evans, T.G. Notes on implementing LISP for the M-460 computer. In The Programming Language LISP: Its Operation and Applications, Berkeley, E. C. and Bobrow, D. G., Eds., Information International, Cambridge, Mass., 1964, pp. 191-203.
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Knuth, D.E. The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 1: Fundamental Algorithms. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1968, p. 421, Ex. 2.3.5.9 and p. 454, Ex. 2.5.33.
[7]
Minsky, M.L. A LISP garbage collector using serial secondary storage. M.I.T. Artif. InteU. Memo No. 58 (rev.), M.I.T., Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 1963.
[8]
Reynolds, J.C. Description of garbage collection in the COGENT programming system. Private communication.
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Saunders, R.A. The LISP system for the Q-32 computer. In The Programming Language LISP: Its Operation and Applications, Berkeley, E. C. and Bobrow, D. G., Eds., Information International, Cambridge, Mass., 1964, pp. 220-231.
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Steele, G.L. Multiprocessing Compactifying Garbage Collection. Comm. ACM 18, 9 (Sept. 1975), 495-508.
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Wegbreit, B. A generalized compactifying garbage collector. Computer J. 15, 3 (Aug. 1972), 204-208.

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Published In

cover image Communications of the ACM
Communications of the ACM  Volume 21, Issue 8
Aug. 1978
84 pages
ISSN:0001-0782
EISSN:1557-7317
DOI:10.1145/359576
Issue’s Table of Contents
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 August 1978
Published in CACM Volume 21, Issue 8

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Author Tags

  1. compactification
  2. compaction
  3. data structures
  4. free storage
  5. garbage collection
  6. list processing
  7. pointers
  8. record structures
  9. relocation
  10. storage allocation
  11. storage reclamation

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  • (2019)Performance Evaluation of a Recognition System on the VLIW Architecture by the Example of the Elbrus PlatformProgramming and Computing Software10.1134/S036176881901005545:1(12-17)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2019
  • (2019)Quantitative Evaluation of Thread-Local Garbage Collection Efficiency for JavaProgramming and Computing Software10.1134/S036176881901004345:1(1-11)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2019
  • (2017)Garbage collection and efficiency in dynamic metacircular runtimes: an experience reportACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/3170472.313384552:11(39-50)Online publication date: 24-Oct-2017
  • (2017)Garbage collection and efficiency in dynamic metacircular runtimes: an experience reportProceedings of the 13th ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on on Dynamic Languages10.1145/3133841.3133845(39-50)Online publication date: 24-Oct-2017
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  • (2015)A Fault-Aware Toolchain Approach for FPGA Fault ToleranceACM Transactions on Design Automation of Electronic Systems10.1145/269983820:2(1-22)Online publication date: 2-Mar-2015
  • (2014)An Improvement to Sliding Garbage CollectionProceedings of ILC 2014 on 8th International Lisp Conference10.1145/2635648.2635655(97-102)Online publication date: 14-Aug-2014
  • (2010)Index-compact garbage collectionProceedings of the 8th Asian conference on Programming languages and systems10.5555/1947873.1947899(271-286)Online publication date: 28-Nov-2010
  • (2010)Index-Compact Garbage CollectionProgramming Languages and Systems10.1007/978-3-642-17164-2_19(271-286)Online publication date: 2010
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