Brief survey of garbage collection algorithms

In this paper (chapter) I describe several classes of garbage collection algorithms, and provide a few examples (both real and hypothetical) of each. This collection is by no means complete; Cohen [Coh81] presents an exhaustive collection, but I am more interested in describing a few representative collectors in detail and providing examples for a later paper (chapter) on garbage collection and optimization. The collectors are also chosen for comparison and contrast; the various algorithms are quite different, but often depend upon similar assumptions about program behavior for good performance. Empirical studies support many of these assumptions.