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Programming Concepts Intermediate

What is Garbage Collection?

An automatic memory management process that identifies and reclaims memory no longer in use by a program.

Garbage collection (GC) frees developers from manual memory management. The GC periodically identifies objects that are no longer reachable from any reference and reclaims their memory. This prevents memory leaks and dangling pointer bugs.

Common algorithms include reference counting (Python, PHP), mark-and-sweep (JavaScript), and generational collection (Java, .NET). GC introduces some overhead and occasional pauses. Languages like C/C++ and Rust use manual or ownership-based memory management instead.

Related Terms

Queue
A data structure that follows First-In-First-Out (FIFO) ordering, where elements are added at the rear and removed from the front.
Hash Table
A data structure that maps keys to values using a hash function, providing average O(1) time complexity for lookups, insertions, and deletions.
Recursion
A programming technique where a function calls itself to solve a problem by breaking it into smaller subproblems.
Closure
A function that captures and retains access to variables from its enclosing scope, even after that scope has finished executing.
Dependency Injection
A design pattern where objects receive their dependencies from external sources rather than creating them internally.
Twelve-Factor App
A methodology of twelve best practices for building modern, scalable, maintainable software-as-a-service applications.
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