reference counting

Noun

Meaning

reference counting (uncountable)

(computing) The technique of storing the number of handles, pointers, or references to a resource such as a block of memory, disk space, or an object, so that the system can determine when the resource is no longer in use.

Source: en.wiktionary.org

Examples

Reference counting alone cannot move objects to improve cache performance, so high performance collectors implement a tracing garbage collector as well. Source: Internet

Reference counting and cyclic references More modern garbage collection schemes are often based on a notion of reachability – if you don't have a usable reference to the memory in question, it can be collected. Source: Internet

Reference counting in naive form has two main disadvantages over the tracing garbage collection, both of which require additional mechanisms to ameliorate: * The frequent updates it involves are a source of inefficiency. Source: Internet

Reference counting is also among the simplest forms of memory management to implement. Source: Internet

Reference counting main Reference counting is a form of garbage collection whereby each object has a count of the number of references to it. Source: Internet

; Space overhead (reference count) : Reference counting requires space to be allocated for each object to store its reference count. Source: Internet

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