Abstract
New algorithms for on-the-fly garbage collection have been presented. The basic algorithm has a correctness proof that is much simpler than that of the DLMSS algorithm. In (2), the color gray is introduced so that what we call BW(i, j, k) will always be false. Later this was found to be untenable and the invariants underwent modifications until correct ones were found. Rather than tinker with the invariants, we took the opportunity to look for changes in the algorithm which would keep the invariants simple. We do not claim to have synthesized the algorithm from the proof but do claim to have developed a good algorithm by setting simplicity of the proof as the primary goal.
This simplicity has paid off since we are able to obtain other improved algorithms whose proofs are immediate modifications of the original proof. Much work needs to be done investigating the performance of this and other on-the-fly garbage collection algorithms.
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© 1982 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Ben-Ari, M. (1982). On-the-fly garbage collection: New algorithms inspired by program proofs. In: Nielsen, M., Schmidt, E.M. (eds) Automata, Languages and Programming. ICALP 1982. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 140. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0012753
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0012753
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