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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

Immutable Object
An object whose state cannot be modified after creation, providing thread safety and predictable behavior in concurrent systems.
Unit Testing
Testing individual components or functions of a program in isolation to verify they work correctly.
Twelve-Factor App
A methodology of twelve best practices for building modern, scalable, maintainable software-as-a-service applications.
Observer Pattern
A design pattern where an object (subject) maintains a list of dependents (observers) that are notified automatically of state changes.
Refactoring
Restructuring existing code without changing its external behavior to improve readability, maintainability, and performance.
SOLID Principles
Five design principles for writing maintainable, flexible object-oriented code: Single Responsibility, Open-Closed, Liskov Substitution, Interface Segregation, and Dependency Inversion.
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