Topic:
disk allocation
Topic:
heap memory management
Topic:
memory management by garbage collection
Topic:
register allocation by usage counts
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Summary
Reference counting is an efficient technique for managing memory. When memory is allocated or referenced, its reference count is incremented. When a reference goes out of scope, the corresponding reference count is decremented. When the reference count is zero, the memory is deallocated.
Reference counting can avoid deep copies, with a copy only occuring on write. Reference counting is useful for garbage collection. (cbb 12/07)
Subtopic: group reference counting 
| Quote: methods for group reference counting; used in memory management for reentrant structures [»bobrDG7_1980, OK]
| | Quote: manage memory for reentrant structures by a reference count for the group as a whole; internal references not counted [»bobrDG7_1980]
| | Quote: a fast, cyclic reference counting algorithm based on partial traces and sub-graphs; total execution time is similar [»linCY3_2007]
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Subtopic: reference counting of files
| Quote: segment freed in the backing store server when its reference count becomes zero; counts Inames in indices [»birrAD9_1980]
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Subtopic: reference count as deep copy
| Quote: increment reference count instead of sending deep copies over a channel; requires immutable objects [»kumaS6_2001]
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Subtopic: examples
| Quote: in ESP, memory safety is a local property of each process; reference counting of link/unlink; communicates immutable, acyclic objects; easily verified by SPIN [»kumaS6_2001]
| | Quote: Smalltalk-80 uses reference-counting for garbage collection [»krasG8_1981]
| | Quote: Oberon's modules only released by explicit command; imported modules released by reference counting (no reference cycles) [»wirtN9_1989]
| | Quote: Euclid allocates storage from collections with optional reference counting for automatic deallocation; may specify storage management module [»shawM3_1980]
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Subtopic: owned objects
| Quote: use single-bit reference count for owned objects; e.g., most list cells in Lisp [»abduSE9_1998]
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Subtopic: pointer rotations
| Quote: pointer rotation preserves the number of pointers to a record; reference counts are preserved [»suzuN_1980]
| | Quote: linear lists and trees have reference counts of one; pointer rotation preserves this; prevents circularity or shared cells [»suzuN_1980]
| | Quote: if a computation preserves reference counts and number of reachable records, then is implemented solely by pointer rotations [»suzuN_1980]
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Subtopic: reference counting with garbage collecting
| Quote: tracing and reference counting are algorithmic duals for garbage collection; live vs. dead objects, anti-operations [»bacoDF10_2004]
| | Quote: tracing and reference counting are duals -- tracing the object graph, scanning an object [»bacoDF10_2004]
| | Quote: garbage collect if a reference count becomes negative; indicates an allocation cycle [»birrAD9_1980]
| | Quote: manage memory with reference counting and a sweep algorithm for circular structures; provides benefits of garbage collection at low cost [»dorwSM1_1997]
| | Quote: use reference counting and local mark-scan to detect cyclic structures [»abduSE9_1998]
| | Quote: Recycler multiprocessor garbage collector with low pause times; loosely synchronized, concurrent reference counting; local, concurrent cycle detection [»bacoDF6_2001]
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Subtopic: performance of reference counting
| Quote: multiprocessor, reference counting without synchronized operations; 100x reduction in maximal response time for garbage collection [»levaY10_2001]
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Subtopic: avoid reference-counting
| Quote: can eliminate reference-counting for stack-based allocations [»abduSE9_1998]
| | Quote: most high-performance, general-purpose systems use tracing garbage collectors instead of reference counting [»wilsPR9_1992]
| Quote: reference counting is expensive, especially with cache memory
[»blacSM6_2004]
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Related Topics
Topic: disk allocation (32 items)
Topic: heap memory management (33 items)
Topic: memory management by garbage collection (116 items)
Topic: register allocation by usage counts
(12 items)
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