Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- FOREWORD
- PREFACE
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 A DIAGRAM FOR OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMS
- 2 CONSTRUCTING ABSTRACTIONS FOR OBJECT-ORIENTED APPLICATIONS
- 3 PLAYRGOUND: AN OBJECT ORIENTED SIMULATION SYSTEM WITH AGENT RULES FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES
- 4 A LABORATORY FOR TEACHING OBJECT-ORIENTED THINKING
- 5 THINK LIKE AN OBJECT
- 6 WHY STUDY SMALLTALK IDIOMS?
- 7 THE DREADED SUPER
- 8 ABSTRACT CONTROL IDIOMS
- 9 VALUEMODEL IDIOMS
- 10 COLLECTION IDIOMS
- 11 AN OBJECTWORKS\SMALLTALK 4.1 WRAPPER IDIOM
- 12 A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO PATTERN LANGUAGE
- 13 WHOLE LOTTA SMALLTALK: THE TECHNOLOGY
- 14 INSTANCE-SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR: HOW AND WHY
- 15 INSTANCE-SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR: DIGITALK IMPLEMENTATION AND THE DEEPER MEANING OF IT ALL
- 16 TO ACCESSOR OR NOT TO ACCESSOR
- 17 INHERITANCE: THE REST OF THE STORY
- 18 INHERITANCE: THE REST OF THE STORY (CONT.)
- 19 HELPER METHODS AVOID UNWANTED INHERITANCE
- 20 IT'S NOT JUST THE CASE
- 21 CRC: FINDING OBJECTS THE EASY WAY
- 22 DEATH TO CASE STATEMENTS
- 23 WHERE DO OBJECTS COME FROM?
- 24 PATTERNS AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
- 25 DISTRIBUTED SMALLTALK
- 26 WHERE DO OBJECTS COME FROM? FROM VARIABLES AND METHODS
- 27 BIRDS, BEES, AND BROWSERS—OBVIOUS SOURCES OF OBJECTS
- 28 USING PATTERNS: DESIGN
- 29 PATTERNS GENERATE ARCHITECTURES
- 30 SIMPLE SMALLTALK TESTING
- 31 ARCHITECTURAL PROTOTYPE: TELEVISION REMOTE CONTROL
- 32 DEMAND LOADING FOR VISUALWORKS
- 33 GARBAGE COLLECTION REVEALED
- 34 WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED TO GARBAGE COLLECTION?
- 35 SUPER + 1
- 36 CLEAN CODE: PIPE DREAM OR STATE OF MIND?
- 37 A MODEST META PROPOSAL
- 38 USES OF VARIABLES: TEMPS
- 39 VARIABLES OF THE WORLD
- 40 PATTERNS 101
- 41 FAREWELL AND A WOOD PILE
- AFTERWORD
- INDEX
34 - WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED TO GARBAGE COLLECTION?
Smalltalk Report, March–April, 1995
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- FOREWORD
- PREFACE
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 A DIAGRAM FOR OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMS
- 2 CONSTRUCTING ABSTRACTIONS FOR OBJECT-ORIENTED APPLICATIONS
- 3 PLAYRGOUND: AN OBJECT ORIENTED SIMULATION SYSTEM WITH AGENT RULES FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES
- 4 A LABORATORY FOR TEACHING OBJECT-ORIENTED THINKING
- 5 THINK LIKE AN OBJECT
- 6 WHY STUDY SMALLTALK IDIOMS?
- 7 THE DREADED SUPER
- 8 ABSTRACT CONTROL IDIOMS
- 9 VALUEMODEL IDIOMS
- 10 COLLECTION IDIOMS
- 11 AN OBJECTWORKS\SMALLTALK 4.1 WRAPPER IDIOM
- 12 A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO PATTERN LANGUAGE
- 13 WHOLE LOTTA SMALLTALK: THE TECHNOLOGY
- 14 INSTANCE-SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR: HOW AND WHY
- 15 INSTANCE-SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR: DIGITALK IMPLEMENTATION AND THE DEEPER MEANING OF IT ALL
- 16 TO ACCESSOR OR NOT TO ACCESSOR
- 17 INHERITANCE: THE REST OF THE STORY
- 18 INHERITANCE: THE REST OF THE STORY (CONT.)
- 19 HELPER METHODS AVOID UNWANTED INHERITANCE
- 20 IT'S NOT JUST THE CASE
- 21 CRC: FINDING OBJECTS THE EASY WAY
- 22 DEATH TO CASE STATEMENTS
- 23 WHERE DO OBJECTS COME FROM?
- 24 PATTERNS AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
- 25 DISTRIBUTED SMALLTALK
- 26 WHERE DO OBJECTS COME FROM? FROM VARIABLES AND METHODS
- 27 BIRDS, BEES, AND BROWSERS—OBVIOUS SOURCES OF OBJECTS
- 28 USING PATTERNS: DESIGN
- 29 PATTERNS GENERATE ARCHITECTURES
- 30 SIMPLE SMALLTALK TESTING
- 31 ARCHITECTURAL PROTOTYPE: TELEVISION REMOTE CONTROL
- 32 DEMAND LOADING FOR VISUALWORKS
- 33 GARBAGE COLLECTION REVEALED
- 34 WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED TO GARBAGE COLLECTION?
- 35 SUPER + 1
- 36 CLEAN CODE: PIPE DREAM OR STATE OF MIND?
- 37 A MODEST META PROPOSAL
- 38 USES OF VARIABLES: TEMPS
- 39 VARIABLES OF THE WORLD
- 40 PATTERNS 101
- 41 FAREWELL AND A WOOD PILE
- AFTERWORD
- INDEX
Summary
I was really stuck trying to write the second half of the garbage collection column. By this time, I felt like I had the column thing wired- sit down, bang out, email. Ka-ching. Not this time. Nothing I tried worked. The column started out late. It kept getting later.
My solution, as you can see, was to rework material from my by-now-jelling patterns book. I didn't feel particularly good about it, because I knew it wouldn't change anyone's life dramatically, and I always wanted to have an impact. However, it got the column done.
I'll tell you what happened to garbage collection. I sat down three times to write the next column about garbage collection, and nothing came out. Between that, my wife's ten-game winning streak at Cribbage, and 46 inches of rain so far this year (and it's still January), I'm pretty frustrated.
I've been reading Edward DeBono's book Thinking Course (highly recommended). One of the techniques he suggests, and also one I've seen in art, is when you're stuck, do the opposite. In art, if you're having trouble drawing a thing, try to draw something that is completely the opposite. Of course, it's impossible to draw “not a flower,” so you end up with something which gets at “flowerness” backwards. I'm writing a column about “not garbage collection.” I'm not sure where I'll end up, but at least the column will be done.
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- Kent Beck's Guide to Better SmalltalkA Sorted Collection, pp. 323 - 334Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997