Communications of the ACM,
Vol. 31 No. 6, Pages 719-741
10.1145/62959.62968
The Warren abstract machine (WAM) has become a generally accepted standard Prolog implementation technique. Garbage collection is an important aspect in the implementation of any Prolog system. A synopsis of the WAM is presented and then marking and compaction algorithms are shown that take advantage of WAM's unique use of the data areas. Marking and compaction are performed on both the heap and the trail; both use pointer reversal techniques, which obviate the need for extra stack space. However, two bits for every pointer on the heap are reserved for the garbage collection algorithm. The algorithm can work on segments of the heap, which may lead to a significant reduction of the total garbage collection time. The time of the algorithms are linear in the size of the areas.
The full text of this article is premium content
0 Comments
No entries found
Log in to Read the Full Article
Purchase the Article
Log in
Create a Web Account
If you are an ACM member, Communications subscriber, Digital Library subscriber, or use your institution's subscription, please set up a web account to access premium content and site
features. If you are a SIG member or member of the general public, you may set up a web account to comment on free articles and sign up for email alerts.