Garbage-collection overhead and headroom

How it behaves

One input on the horizontal axis, the others held fixed.

Worked examples, recomputed

Every number the mechanisms quote for this relationship is recomputed from it, so none of them disagrees with it.

• 90% live → 9× the work per byte freed (1× at 50%)

Where it appears

Each mechanism states it in its own names. The general symbol each name stands for is shown with it.

• Memory & Resource Management

  Who is allowed to hold how much memory, for how long, and what happens to the work when the answer is less than it asked for?

  $$\text{overhead}\propto 1/(H/L-1)$$

  Read it in place →

• Emergent Failure Dynamics

  What happens when nothing is broken, every component is healthy, and the system's own response to stress makes the stress worse?

  $$\frac{k\cdot L}{H-L}=\frac{k\cdot \rho }{1-\rho },\rho =L/H$$

  Read it in place →