System and method for optimizing garbage collection with allocation modifiers

A computer program product, comprising a computer usable storage medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code containing instructions that when executed by a processor of a computer system implement a method for optimizing garbage collection, the method comprising:

• interpreting an intermediate code comprising a data object declared with an allocation modifier that indicates how long the data object will be used while executing the intermediate code, wherein the allocation modifier is provided by a programmer of a source code which had been compiled into the intermediate code;
• determining a heap area for the data object pursuant to the allocation modifier;
• and
• allocating the data object in the determined heap area such that a garbage collector reduces the number of objects to scan during garbage collection and minimizes the number of objects to be relocated from a first heap area to a second heap area, wherein objects in the first heap area are younger than objects in the second heap area,
• wherein an interpreter of a runtime environment performs said interpreting, said determining, and said allocating, and wherein the runtime environment comprises the interpreter and the garbage collector.

A system comprising a processor and a computer readable memory unit coupled to the processor, said memory unit containing instructions that when executed by the processor implement a method for optimizing garbage collection, the method comprising:

• interpreting an intermediate code comprising a data object declared with an allocation modifier that indicates how long the data object will be used while executing the intermediate code, wherein the allocation modifier is provided by a programmer of a source code which had been compiled into the intermediate code;
• determining a heap area for the data object pursuant to the allocation modifier;
• and
• allocating the data object in the determined heap area such that a garbage collector reduces the number of objects to scan during garbage collection and minimizes the number of objects to be relocated from a first heap area to a second heap area, wherein objects in the first heap area are younger than objects in the second heap area,
• wherein an interpreter of a runtime environment performs said interpreting, said determining, and said allocating, and wherein the runtime environment comprises the interpreter and the garbage collector.

A method for optimizing garbage collection, the method comprising:

• loading a machine code comprising a data object declared with an allocation modifier that indicates how long the data object will be used while executing the machine code, wherein the allocation modifier is provided by a programmer of the source code which had been compiled into the machine code;
• determining a heap area for the data object pursuant to the allocation modifier;
• and
• allocating the data object in the determined heap area such that a garbage collector reduces the number of objects to scan during garbage collection and minimizes the number of objects to be relocated from a first heap area to a second heap area, wherein objects in the first heap area are younger than objects in the second heap area,
• wherein an execution engine of a runtime environment performs said loading, said determining, and said allocating, and wherein the runtime environment comprises the interpreter and the garbage collector.