Garbage collection, Operating System

Assignment Help:

The dynamic memory allocator is a layer between the application and the OS, managing heap objects. When a program requests memory from the allocator (via malloc(), for instance), the allocator will return a pointer (or reference) to a piece of memory of the appropriate size. When the program is done with the memory, the memory should be released back to the allocator. Languages such as C and C++ leave this job to the programmer to perform manually, for example by using free(). On the other hand, languages such as Java, python, etc automatically manage dynamically-allocated memory, which makes the programmer's life easier, and can eliminate entire classes of memory management bugs.

Although using free() and delete is relatively simple, it can be tricky to get them right. A signi?cant fraction of bugs in C and C++ programs are related to manual memory management. If we forget to free objects, we end up with memory leaks; if we free memory too soon, we end up with "dangling pointers"; also, we can try to do weird things, like performing double frees, etc. Therefore, a process that manages memory automatically is clearly useful. The most important concept for correctly implementing a garbage collector is that of live objects: a live object is any object that can still be reached through one (or more) pointers.


Related Discussions:- Garbage collection

Explain segmentation and paging, Why are segmentation and paging sometimes ...

Why are segmentation and paging sometimes combined into one scheme? Segmentation and paging are often combined in order to improve upon each other. Segmented paging is helpful

What are the services provided by the operating systems, What are the servi...

What are the services provided by the operating systems?  Program Development It provides a variety of services and facilities, such as debuggers and editor, to help the

How many cubic feet of storage space would require, Q. Presume that we agr...

Q. Presume that we agree that 1 kilobyte is 1,024 bytes 1 megabyte is 1,0242 bytes and 1 gigabyte is 1,0243 bytes. This progression carries on through terabytes, petabytes, and ex

Explain the resource ownership by platform, Explain the Resource Ownership ...

Explain the Resource Ownership by Platform Ownership of data items may further be complicated by concepts defined in certain operating systems. Each operating system defines "p

Macro, What is macro expansion

What is macro expansion

What disadvantages are there to this two-level directory, What disadvantage...

What disadvantages are there to this two-level directory? Without other provisions, two users who require cooperating with each other are hampered in reaching every other's fi

Difference between two tier and three tier architectures, Question: a) ...

Question: a) Illustrate with the help of a diagram, the difference between two tier and three tier architectures. b) Explain in what kind of environment, a peer to peer envi

Demand paging, Demand paging With demand paging, a page is called into...

Demand paging With demand paging, a page is called into memory only when a location on that page is actually indexed during run time. With pre-paging, pages other than the one

Bankers algorithm, p0A B C D A B C D A B C D 2 0 12 2012 1000 1354 0632 ...

p0A B C D A B C D A B C D 2 0 12 2012 1000 1354 0632 0014

Bag of tasks, The producer-consumermodel above has a standard human analogy...

The producer-consumermodel above has a standard human analogy of an assembly line. Humans have specialized skills, however, whereas threads running the same program do not need to

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd