Presentation: Tweet"Understanding Java Garbage Collection, and what you can do about it"

Garbage Collection is an integral part of application behavior on Java platforms, yet it is often misunderstood. As such, it is important for Java developers to understand the actions you can take in selecting and tuning collector mechanisms, as well as in your application architecture choices.

In this presentation, Gil Tene (CTO, Azul Systems) reviews and classifies the various garbage collectors and collection techniques available in JVMs today. Following a quick overview of common garbage collection techniques including generational, parallel, stop-the-world, incremental, concurrent and mostly-concurrent algorithms, he defines terms and metrics common to all collectors. He classifies each major JVM collector's mechanisms and characteristics and discuss the tradeoffs involved in balancing requirements for responsiveness, throughput, space, and available memory across varying scale levels. Gil concludes with some pitfalls, common misconceptions, and "myths" around garbage collection behavior, as well as examples of how some good choices can result in impressive application behaviour