Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mark scan garbage collection on a distributed architecture

  • Published:
LISP and Symbolic Computation

Abstract

In any computer architecture designed for the evaluation of declarative languages, efficient reclamation of redundant (garbage) storage is essential. High performance, exploiting the inherent parallelism of such languages, is now typically achieved by parallel architectures, computational graphs thus being distributed across many processing elements.

This paper describes a real-time mark-scan garbage collection algorithm for a distributed machine with local store. The algorithm allows collection on a per-process basis, and several collections may run concurrently and asynchronously. Both non real-time and real-time versions are provided.

It is hoped to publish implementation results for the algorithm when such are available.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Augusteijn, L.Garbage Collection in a Distributed Environment. Proc PARLE Conference, June 1987. Lecture Notes In Computer Science Number 259, Springer-Verlag.

  2. Baker, H.G.List Processing in Real Time on a Serial Computer. Communications ACM 21,4, April 1978.

  3. Broughton, P., Thomson, C.M., Leunig, S., and Prior, S.Designing System Software For Parallel Declarative Systems. ICL Technical Journal, Vol 5 Issue 3, May 1987.

  4. Chandy, K.M., and Misra, J.An Example of Stepwise Refinement of Distributed Programs: Quiescence Detection. ACM Transactions On Programming Languages and Systems 8,3, July 1986.

  5. Cohen, J.Garbage Collection of Linked Data Structures. ACM Computing Surveys, 1981.

  6. Derbyshire, M.H.Garbage Collection In Distributed Computer Architectures. MSc Thesis, University of Manchester, Manchester, England, January 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Hudak, P., and Keller, R.M.Garbage Collection and Task Deletion in Distributed Applicative Processing Systems. ACM Symposium on LISP and Functional Programming, August 1982.

  8. Townsend, P.Flagship Hardware and Implementation. ICL Technical Journal, Vol 5 Issue 3, May 1987.

  9. Watson, P., and Watson, I.An Efficient Garbage Collection Scheme For Parallel Computer Architectures. Proc PARLE Conference, June 1987. Lecture Notes In Computer Science Number 259, Springer-Verlag.

  10. Watson, I., Sargeant, J., Watson, P., and Woods, J.V.Flagship Computational Models and Machine Architecture. ICL Technical Journal, Vol 5 Issue 3, May 1987.

  11. Watson, P., and Watson, I. “Evaluating Functional Programs on the FLAGSHIP Machine. Proc Conference Functional Programming Languages and Computer Architecture, 1987. Lecture Notes In Computer Science Number 274, Springer-Verlag.

  12. Watson, P., and Watson, I.Graph Reduction in a Parallel Virtual Memory Environment. Proc MCC Graph Reduction Workshop, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1987. Lecture Notes In Computer Science Number 279, Springer-Verlag.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Computer Science, The University, Oxford Road, M13 9PL, Manchester, England

    Margaret H. Derbyshire

Authors
  1. Margaret H. Derbyshire
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Derbyshire, M.H. Mark scan garbage collection on a distributed architecture. Lisp and Symbolic Computation 3, 135–170 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01806256

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01806256

Keywords

Search

Navigation