Sign Up to our social questions and Answers Engine to ask questions, answer people’s questions, and connect with other people.
Login to our social questions & Answers Engine to ask questions answer people’s questions & connect with other people.
Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link and will create a new password via email.
Please briefly explain why you feel this question should be reported.
Please briefly explain why you feel this answer should be reported.
Please briefly explain why you feel this user should be reported.
Most of the modern languages have built in garbage collection (GC). e.g. Java, .NET languages, Ruby, etc. Indeed GC simplifies application development in many ways.
I am interested to know the limitations / disadvantages of writing applications in GCed languages. Assuming GC implemenation is optimal, I am just wondering we may be limited by GC to take some optimization decisions.
The main disadvantages to using a garbage collector, in my opinion, are:
Non-deterministic cleanup of resources. Sometimes, it is handy to say “I’m done with this, and I want it cleaned NOW”. With a GC, this typically means forcing the GC to cleanup everything, or just wait until it’s ready – both of which take away some control from you as a developer.
Potential performance issues which arise from non-deterministic operation of the GC. When the GC collects, it’s common to see (small) hangs, etc. This can be particularly problematic for things such as real-time simulations or games.