Abstract
An elementary correctness proof for Ben-Ari's algorithm (1984) for incremental garbage collection is given. We give a new algorithm for systems in which there are multiple mutators and a proof of its correctness, which is a minor modification of the previous proof. Finally, we remark upon a way to implement these algorithms that may increase their performance on certain architectures.
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References
Ben-Ari M (1984) Algorithms for on-the-fly garbage collection. ACM Trans Prog Lang Syst 6(3) 333–344
Dijkstra EW, Lamport L, Martin AJ, Scholten CS, Steffens EFM (1978) On-the-fly garbage collection: an exercise in cooperation. Commun ACM 21(11) 966–975
Van de Snepscheut JLA (1987) “Algorithms for one-the-fly garbage collection” revisited. Inf Process Lett 24:211–216
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Carl Pixley holds B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mathematics from the University of Omaha, Rutgers-The State University, and the State University of New York at Binghamton, respectively. His principal contributions are the Pixley-Roy construction of set-theoretic topology, a example in the selection theory of infinite-dimensional spaces, a decomposition theorem (with W. Eaton) in geometric topology, and the design and implementation of demanddriven arithmetic in a functional programming language. He is now a member of the technical staff of the VLSI Computer Aided Design Program of Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC) in Austin Texas, where he is investigating mathematical methods in the verification of hardware.
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Pixley, C. An incremental garbage collection algorithm for multi-mutator systems. Distrib Comput 3, 41–50 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01788566
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01788566