Synopsis

It started as an obsession with making the web application used at my day job faster, and ended with trying to implement new Garbage Collection algorithms in a notoriously insane codebase. Garbage collection is an epic hack and a triumphant abstraction that supports various programming paradigms. As hardware and software changes, Garbage Collection’s role also changes but remains equally important. I’ll discuss my experiments with MRI Ruby, my investigations into other languages and the influence of their GC implementations, the history of the subject, and more.