Garbage collection in the next C++ standard

: © Garbage Collection in the Next C++ Standard Hans-J. Boehm, Mike Spertus HP Laboratories HPL-2009-360 C++, garbage collection C++ has traditionally relied on manual memory management. Sometimes this has been augmented by limited reference counting, implemented in libraries, and requiring use of separate pointer types. In spite of the fact that conservative garbage collectors have been used with C for decades, and with C++ for almost as long, they have not been well-supported by language standards. This in turn has limited their use. We have led an effort to change this by supporting optional "transparent" garbage collection in the next C++ standard. This is designed to either garbage collect or detect leaks in code using normal unadorned C++ pointers. We initially describe an ambitious effort that would have allowed programmers to explicitly request garbage collection. It faced a number of challenges, primarily in correct interaction with existing libraries relying on exp...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: IWMM
• Authors: Hans-Juergen Boehm, Mike Spertus
• Keywords: C++ Standard, Conservative Garbage Collector, Garbage Collection, IWMM 2009, Operating System