garbage collection meaning: definition, quotations

garbage collection

noun

Canada, US, Usually A service, generally run by local government, for transporting household garbage to the appropriate facility.

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Programming, Sciences Usually An automatic mechanism that frees up resources (such as allocated memory) that are no longer in use.

Java uses a technique known as garbage collection to remove objects that are no longer needed. The garbage collector is Java's grim reaper.[2002, Patrick Niemeyer, Jonathan Knudsen, Learning Java, O'Reilly, →ISBN, page 135:
Generational garbage collection has proved to be a highly effective organisation, offering significant performance improvements for a wide range of applications.2016, Richard Jones, Antony Hosking, Eliot Moss, The Garbage Collection Handbook, CRC Press, →ISBN:

Derived terms: GC
Related terms: garbage collect, garbage collector