TinyGC

A light-weighted GC in C++ (C++11) based on mark-and-sweep algorithm.

Features

• Accurate GC
• Controllable collection
• Low memory consumption, compatible with other memory managements
• Allow multiple instances of GC

Use

1. Create TinyGC::GC object.
2. Call newValue method to create collectable object.
3. Call newObject method to create collectable object whose type is a subclass of GCObject.
4. Call collect to collect garbage.

Examples

Java:

class Point
{
    Point(int x, int y) {
        this.x = x;
        this.y = y;
    }
    int x, y;
}

Point p = new Point(5, 6);

C++ with TinyGC:

class Point : public TinyGC::GCObject
{
    using Int = TinyGC::GCValue<int>*;
public:
    Point(Int x, Int y)
        : x(x), y(y) {}

    Int x, y;

private:
    void GCMarkAllSub() override {
        GCMarkSub(x);
        GCMarkSub(y);
    }
}

int main()
{
    TinyGC::GC GC;
    {
        auto p = GC.newObject<Point>(
            GC.newValue<int>(5),
            GC.newValue<int>(6)
        );
    }
    GC.collect();
}

Note

• For TinyGC, GC::newValue and GC::newObject is the only correct way to create collectable objects¡£
• All the objects allocated by GC are owned by the GC object.
• GC will release all resources once go out of scope, therefore can be used within a function, as a non-static menber of class or as thread local.
• GC::newValue and GC::newObject returns a GCRootPtr smart pointer that would guarantee the object it points to will not be collected.

License

Apache License 2.0