Garbage collection of an object

Abstract

One or more embodiments are directed to creating a structure comprising a weak reference to an object, a strong reference to the object, a count of remote references to the object, and an identifier for the object, incrementing the count when a remote reference is created to the object and decrementing the count when a remote reference is removed, setting the strong reference in response to the count being greater than a first threshold in order to avoid a garbage collection of the object, clearing the strong reference in response to the count being less than a second threshold to enable a garbage collection of the object, and removing the structure and related resources based on a recognition of the object's collection through the weak reference.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for performing garbage collection comprising:
 at least one processor; and   memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
 create a structure comprising: a weak reference to an object, a strong reference to the object, a count of remote references to the object, and an identifier for the object, 
 increment the count when a remote reference is created to the object and decrement the count when a remote reference is removed, 
 set the strong reference in response to the count being greater than a first threshold in order to avoid a garbage collection of the object, 
 clear the strong reference in response to the count being less than a second threshold to enable a garbage collection of the object, and 
 remove the structure and related resources based on a recognition of the object's collection through the weak reference. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the first threshold is equal to zero and wherein the second threshold is equal to one. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
 store a first link to the structure to enable a lookup of the identifier based on the weak reference, and   store a second link to the structure to enable a lookup of the structure based on the identifier.   
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the first link is associated with a first table that maps a plurality of structures to a corresponding plurality of unique identifiers, and wherein the second link is associated with a second table that maps the plurality of unique identifiers to the plurality of structures. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
 garbage collect the object based at least in part on a determination that the strong reference is cleared.   
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
 garbage collect the object using a local garbage collection mechanism.   
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the local garbage collection mechanism comprises a Java garbage collection mechanism. 
     
     
         8 . A system for performing garbage collection comprising:
 a computing device configured to store an object and a structure, the structure comprising:   a weak reference to the object,   a strong reference to the object,   a count of remote references to the object, and   a unique identifier to the object;   the computing device is configured to garbage collect the object when the count of remote references is less than a first threshold and when the number of local references to the object in the computing device is less than a second threshold.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the computing device is configured to increment the count of remote references when a remote reference to the object is created and decrement the count of remote references when a remote reference to the object is removed. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the first threshold is equal to one, and wherein the second threshold is equal to one. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the computing device is configured to garbage collect the object via a distributed programming language running on Java virtual machines without modifying the Java. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the distributed programming language comprises X10 programming language. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the computing device comprises at least one of a personal computer, a laptop computer, a mobile device, and a server.