#1,083 – Using Visual Studio to Verify Little-Endianness

April 25, 2014 1 Comment

We know that Intel processors use a “little-endian” scheme when deciding how to store binary data in memory.  That is, bytes from the “little end” of a number will be stored earlier in memory than the bytes from the “big end”.

We can see this little-endianness in action by using Visual Studio to look at how a data item is stored in memory.

Let’s say that we have a 4-byte (32-bit) unsigned integer with a value of 0x1234ABCD, assigned to a variable named “myNumber”.  We can view the memory location where this number is stored by bringing up the Memory window in Visual Studio and then entering “&myNumber” in the Address area.

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When you press RETURN, you’ll see the memory location where myNumber is stored.  Notice that the first byte is CD, followed by AB, etc.  The number is stored in a little-endian manner.

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#939 – Not All Objects on Heap Are Promoted to Next GC Generation

September 26, 2013 Leave a comment

Objects on the managed heap are grouped into generations by the garbage collector (GC), as follows:

  • Generation 0 – Objects that have been created since the last GC pass  (newest objects)
  • Generation 1 – Objects that have survived one pass of the GC
  • Generation 2 – All other objects  (oldest objects)

Objects are only promoted to the next generation if the generation that they are currently located in is examined and collected during a garbage collection pass.

This means:

  • Since the GC always examines Gen 0 during any GC pass, Gen 0 objects that survive a garbage collection are always promoted to Gen 1.
  • Objects in Gen 1 are only promoted to Gen 2 if Gen 1 is examined and collected during a GC pass and the object survives.  The GC will very often do only a Gen 0 pass during collection.  When the GC only examines and collects Gen 0, Gen 1 objects are not examined and therefore not promoted to Gen 2.

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#938 – Finding Out What GC Generation an Object Is In

September 25, 2013 2 Comments

The garbage collector (GC) groups objects into generations to avoid having to examine and collect all objects in memory whenever a garbage collection is done.

For debugging purposes, it’s sometimes useful to know which generation an object currently belongs to.  You can get this information using the GC.GetGeneration method, as shown below.

            Dog bob = new Dog("Bob", 5);
            Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Bob is in generation {0}", GC.GetGeneration(bob)));

            GC.Collect();
            Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Bob is in generation {0}", GC.GetGeneration(bob)));

            GC.Collect();
            Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Bob is in generation {0}", GC.GetGeneration(bob)));

In the example above, the “Bob” Dog object starts out in generation 0. After we do the first garbage collection, it’s promoted to generation 1 and after the 2nd collection, it’s promoted to generation 2.
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#937 – Forcing a Garbage Collection

September 24, 2013 1 Comment

The garbage collector (GC) normally runs automatically, doing a garbage collection pass when necessary (when there is memory pressure and you are allocating memory for some new object).

You typically just let the garbage collector run automatically, never explicitly asking it to do garbage collection.

For testing purposes, however, you might want to force garbage collection to happen at a particular time.  You can do this by calling the GC.Collect method.  Calling Collect will force a collection across all generations.  You can also specify the highest generation to collect as follows:

  • GC.Collect() – Collect generations 0, 1, 2
  • GC.Collect(0) – Collect generation 0 only
  • GC.Collect(1) – Collect generations 0, 1

Objects with finalizers will not be collected when you call Collect, but rather placed on the finalization queue.  If you want to also release memory for these objects, you need to wait until their finalizers are called and then do another garbage collection pass.

            GC.Collect();
            GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
            GC.Collect();

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#936 – Visualizing Garbage Collection Generations

September 23, 2013 4 Comments

The garbage collection groups objects on the managed heap into generations.  This improves the performance of the garbage collector (GC), since it typically collects objects in Generation 0 (newest), only moving to older generations if necessary.

Below is an example of this.  To start with, we have an empty managed heap (no objects).  The entire heap is considered Generation 0, since we haven’t yet done a garbage collection.

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We now allocate three Dog objects on the heap.  They are allocated in the first available space within Gen 0.

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We now set the yourDog reference to null, so that Jack is no longer referenced.  Before garbage collection, the heap looks like this:

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Assume that a GC pass runs now and collects objects in Gen 0 (the only generation available).  Memory for Jack is released, everything in Gen 0 is compacted, and whatever remains is marked as Gen 1.  Gen 0 now starts again at the free space pointer.

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Assume that we run for a while and allocate a couple more Dog objects–Lassie and Rin Tin Tin.  Then assume that the reference to Lassie is removed and that the reference to Ruby is also removed.  Before collection, the heap looks as follows.  Notice that there are unreachable objects in both Gen 0 and Gen 1.

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Assume that a garbage collection now runs and collects only Gen 0.  Memory for Lassie is reclaimed, Gen 0 is compacted and and its objects are promoted to Gen 1.  The existing Gen 1, however, is not collected and its objects remain in Gen 1.

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Finally, let’s assume that the garbage collection runs one more time.  It begins with Gen 0, but there is nothing to collect.  Let’s assume that there are high memory demands that cause the GC to decide to also collect Gen 1.  It can now release memory for Ruby and then compacts Gen 1 and promotes its surviving objects to Gen 2.

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#935 – Large Objects Are Allocated on the Large Object Heap

September 20, 2013 5 Comments

The managed heap is the area in memory where reference-typed objects are allocated.  When you create a new object, a portion of the managed heap is allocated for the object.

In reality, objects are stored on either the Small Object Heap (SOH) or the Large Object Heap (LOH).  Objects that are larger than 85,000 bytes are allocated on the LOH.  All other objects are allocated on the SOH.

Other differences between the two heaps:

  • The SOH is generational–objects belong to generation 0, 1, or 2.  The LOH is not sub-divided into generations
  • The LOH is only garbage collected when generation 2 of the SOH is collected.  (I.e. Rarely)
  • After the LOH is garbage collected, the heap is not compacted.  This results in the memory becoming fragmented and requires maintaining a linked list of free blocks.  (The SOH is compacted after every collection).
  • Allocation on the LOH can be slower than the SOH, due to the fragmentation.

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#934 – How Generations Help the Garbage Collector Run More Efficiently

September 19, 2013 2 Comments

Objects allocated on the managed heap are grouped into generations by the garbage collector:

  • Generation 0 – Newest objects
  • Generation 1 – Objects that have survived one GC pass
  • Generation 2 – Objects that have survived more than one GC pass

When the garbage collector performs a GC pass, it looks only at objects in generation 0, releasing memory for any that are no longer reachable.  In this way, the garbage collector is more efficient, because it is only looking at a portion of the managed heap.

If the garbage collector has collected Gen 0, but the application requires more memory, the garbage collector can then garbage collect generation 1.  If the application still requires memory after collecting generation 1, it can move on to generation 2.

This scheme relies on the fact that if an object survives one GC pass, it likely has a longer lifetime and will survive future passes.

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