How do we implement Garbage Collection In C++

[karthick88]

Hi Guys,
I have been off this forum for a couple of days. But I am back with a new question

How do we implement garbage collector in C++??

My initial thought is to use a smart pointer.. But was just wondering is there a better and efficient way of doing it!

Post in your thoughts here...

[jammas615]

garbage collector?? as in.... what??

[Athar]

Make sure memory management is done by containers where applicable and smart pointers in all other cases.

[karthick88]

Containers?? can u explain a bit more please?

[helios]

What do you mean "garbage collection"? Automatic memory management of a program's own memory, automatic memory management of a guest language (e.g. Java) implemented in the host language (e.g. C++), or something else entirely?

[karthick88]

automatic memory management of a guest language (e.g. Java) implemented in the host language (e.g. C++)

[kbw]

You'd need some kind of smart pointer that you must always pass by value (so the reference counts can be maintained).

If you think about how a Java object pointer is used, you'll have a clearer idea on what smarts you need to implement.

[Duthomhas]

The correct answer is: don't. Garbage collection does not work well with C++.

Better to use RAII (which you can Google). Simply put, make sure that you have destructors to properly clean up all the resources you aquire.

[Kyon]

You'd have to hire off some low-educated people and get a truck with those nifty steps on the back, just go for a ride and you've got your garbage collection in no time.

[stravant]

Edit: Sorry, didn't read the thread.
If you're wondering how you actually make a garbage collection system, you may want to look at Lua.

The source code is available, and it has full garbage collection, not just reference counting. It's a real-world example but at the same time small enough that you can probably digest the gist of what it's doing with a couple days of tearing it apart.

[helios]

People, read the thread before posting. He doesn't want garbage collection C++, he wants garbage collection in a language that will be implemented in C++.