Garbage collection

[Vlad Dumitrescu]

Hi!

I will try to look closer at the existing collector... it is an interesting
area. Difficult, but worth trying, I think. Only I have the time! :-)

>Allocating a cons is done as:
>
>uint32 *mem = p->htop;
>p->htop += 2;
>
>This is fast, 

The allocation is fast, but the collection will be slower!

> if the Boehm collector should be used, we
>need to replace this with:
>
>uint32 *mem = (uint32*) malloc(2);
>
>which is slow, extremely slow.

true, but the extra time is distributed, instead of a long collection phase.
Besides, as you say, hacks can be used - line allocating a bunch of cells at
once, instead of one by one.

In the end, since there is no "one size fits all" solution to GC, it depends
a lot on the way typical applications/processes use memory...

/Vlad
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