A garbage collector in C from scratch

~13 mins read
a garbage collector, replicating https://github.com/munificent/mark-sweep step by step
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

#define STACK_MAX 256

typedef enum
{
    OBJ_INT,
    OBJ_PAIR
} ObjectType;

typedef struct sObject
{
    ObjectType type;
    unsigned char marked;

    /* The next object in the linked list of heap allocated objects. */
    struct sObject *next;

    union {
        /* OBJ_INT */
        int value;

        /* OBJ_PAIR */
        struct
        {
            struct sObject *head;
            struct sObject *tail;
        };
    };
} Object;

typedef struct
{
    Object *stack[STACK_MAX];
    int stackSize;

    /* The first object in the linked list of all objects on the heap. */
    Object *firstObject;

    /* The total number of currently allocated objects. */
    int numObjects;

    /* The number of objects required to trigger a GC. */
    int maxObjects;
} VM;


VM *newVM();
void push(VM *vm, Object *value);
Object *pop(VM *vm);

void mark(Object *object);
void markAll(VM *vm);
void sweep(VM *vm);
void gc(VM *vm);
void freeVM(VM *vm);

Object *newObject(VM *vm, ObjectType type);
void pushInt(VM *vm, int intValue);
Object *pushPair(VM *vm);


void assert(int condition, const char *message)
{
    if (!condition)
    {
        printf("%s\n", message);
        exit(1);
    }
}

VM *newVM()
{
    VM *vm = malloc(sizeof(VM));
    vm->stackSize = 0;
    vm->firstObject = NULL;
    vm->numObjects = 0;
    vm->maxObjects = 8;
    return vm;
}

void push(VM *vm, Object *value)
{
    assert(vm->stackSize < STACK_MAX, "Stack overflow!");
    vm->stack[vm->stackSize++] = value;
}

Object *pop(VM *vm)
{
    assert(vm->stackSize > 0, "Stack underflow!");
    return vm->stack[--vm->stackSize];
}

void mark(Object *object)
{
    /* If already marked, we're done. Check this first to avoid recursing
     on cycles in the object graph. */
    if (object->marked)
        return;

    object->marked = 1;

    if (object->type == OBJ_PAIR)
    {
        mark(object->head);
        mark(object->tail);
    }
}

void markAll(VM *vm)
{
    for (int i = 0; i < vm->stackSize; i++)
    {
        mark(vm->stack[i]);
    }
}

void sweep(VM *vm)
{
    Object **object = &vm->firstObject;
    printf("*vm %d , vm->first %d,  &vm->firstObject %d \n", vm, vm->firstObject, &vm->firstObject);

    while (*object)
    {
        if (!(*object)->marked)
        {
            /* This object wasn't reached, so remove it from the list and free it. */
            Object *unreached = *object;

            *object = unreached->next;
            free(unreached);

            vm->numObjects--;
        }
        else
        {
            /* This object was reached, so unmark it (for the next GC) and move on to
       the next. */
            (*object)->marked = 0;
            object = &(*object)->next;

            // printf("object %d, &object %d, (*object) %d \n", object, &object,  (*object));
        }
    }
}


void gc(VM *vm)
{
    int numObjects = vm->numObjects;

    markAll(vm);
    sweep(vm);

    vm->maxObjects = vm->numObjects * 2;

    printf("Collected %d objects, %d remaining.\n", numObjects - vm->numObjects,
           vm->numObjects);
}

void freeVM(VM *vm)
{
    vm->stackSize = 0;
    gc(vm);
    free(vm);
}

Object *newObject(VM *vm, ObjectType type)
{
    if (vm->numObjects == vm->maxObjects)
        gc(vm);

    Object *object = malloc(sizeof(Object));
    object->type = type;
    object->next = vm->firstObject;
    vm->firstObject = object;
    object->marked = 0;

    vm->numObjects++;

    return object;
}

void pushInt(VM *vm, int intValue)
{
    Object *object = newObject(vm, OBJ_INT);
    object->value = intValue;

    push(vm, object);
}

Object *pushPair(VM *vm)
{
    Object *object = newObject(vm, OBJ_PAIR);
    object->tail = pop(vm);
    object->head = pop(vm);

    push(vm, object);
    return object;
}

void objectPrint(Object *object)
{
    switch (object->type)
    {
    case OBJ_INT:
        printf("%d", object->value);
        break;

    case OBJ_PAIR:
        printf("(");
        objectPrint(object->head);
        printf(", ");
        objectPrint(object->tail);
        printf(")");
        break;
    }
}


void test1()
{
    printf("Test 1: Objects on stack are preserved.\n");
    VM *vm = newVM();
    pushInt(vm, 1);
    pushInt(vm, 2);

    gc(vm);
    assert(vm->numObjects == 2, "Should have preserved objects.");
    freeVM(vm);
}

void test2()
{
    printf("Test 2: Unreached objects are collected.\n");
    VM *vm = newVM();
    pushInt(vm, 1);
    pushInt(vm, 2);
    pop(vm);
    pop(vm);

    gc(vm);
    assert(vm->numObjects == 0, "Should have collected objects.");
    freeVM(vm);
}

void test3()
{
    printf("Test 3: Reach nested objects.\n");
    VM *vm = newVM();
    pushInt(vm, 1);
    pushInt(vm, 2);
    pushPair(vm);
    pushInt(vm, 3);
    pushInt(vm, 4);
    pushPair(vm);
    pushPair(vm);

    gc(vm);
    assert(vm->numObjects == 7, "Should have reached objects.");
    freeVM(vm);
}

void test4()
{
    printf("Test 4: Handle cycles.\n");
    VM *vm = newVM();
    pushInt(vm, 1);
    pushInt(vm, 2);
    Object *a = pushPair(vm);
    pushInt(vm, 3);
    pushInt(vm, 4);
    Object *b = pushPair(vm);

    /* Set up a cycle, and also make 2 and 4 unreachable and collectible. */
    a->tail = b;
    b->tail = a;

    gc(vm);
    assert(vm->numObjects == 4, "Should have collected objects.");
    freeVM(vm);
}

void perfTest()
{
    printf("Performance Test.\n");
    VM *vm = newVM();

    for (int i = 0; i < 1000; i++)
    {
        for (int j = 0; j < 20; j++)
        {
            pushInt(vm, i);
        }

        for (int k = 0; k < 20; k++)
        {
            pop(vm);
        }
    }
    freeVM(vm);
}

int main(int argc, const char *argv[])
{
    test1();
    test2();
    test3();
    test4();
    perfTest();

    return 0;
}
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