Generational ZCG in Java 21

Garbage collection is a crucial aspect of memory management in modern programming languages, and Java is no exception. Java's Garbage Collector (GC) automatically manages memory by reclaiming objects that are no longer in use. In Java 21, the garbage collection process has seen significant improvements, especially in the area of generational garbage collection.

Generational Garbage Collection

Generational garbage collection is a memory management strategy based on the observation that most objects die young. In a typical Java application, a large percentage of objects become unreachable shortly after they are created. It observation led to the creation of a generational garbage collection approach.

In Java, the heap is divided into two main generations: the young generation and the old generation.

• Young Generation: It is a part of GC where newly created objects are allocated. It is further divided into Eden space and two survivor spaces (S0 and S1). Objects that survive a garbage collection cycle in the young generation are promoted to the old generation.
• Old Generation: It is a part of GC where long-lived objects reside. Garbage collection in the old generation is less frequent compared to the young generation.

Enhancements in Java 21

Java 21 brings significant improvements to generational garbage collection, aiming to make memory management even more efficient and responsive. Some key enhancements include:

1. ZGC (Z Garbage Collector) Updates

Introduced in Java 11, ZGC is a scalable garbage collector designed to handle very large heaps (multiple terabytes) with low latency requirements. In Java 21, ZGC has undergone further refinements to improve its performance and adaptability to various workloads.

2. Improved Adaptive Sizing

Java 21 introduces more sophisticated algorithms for dynamically adjusting the sizes of different heap regions. This means that the garbage collector can better adapt to the application's memory usage patterns, resulting in more efficient memory utilization.

3. Enhanced Handling of Large Objects

Large objects, which are larger than a certain threshold, can now be more effectively managed. Java 21 provides mechanisms to handle large objects in a way that minimizes performance overhead.

4. Optimized Promotion Failure Handling

When an object in the young generation cannot be promoted to the old generation, it is considered a promotion failure. Java 21 includes optimizations to reduce the impact of promotion failures, leading to smoother garbage collection cycles.

5. Fine-tuned Ergonomics

Java 21 incorporates refined heuristics for automatically selecting garbage collector settings based on the system's configuration and workload characteristics. This helps to minimize the need for manual tuning.

Benefits of Enhanced Generational Garbage Collection

The improvements in generational garbage collection in Java 21 bring several benefits to developers and applications:

• Reduced Latency: The enhancements lead to shorter garbage collection pauses, making Java applications more responsive and suitable for real-time systems.
• Improved Scalability: The ZGC updates enable Java to handle even larger heaps efficiently, making it a compelling choice for memory-intensive applications.
• Better Utilization of Resources: The adaptive sizing algorithms ensure that memory is used more effectively, reducing waste and optimizing performance.
• Smoother Performance: The optimizations in promotion failure handling contribute to smoother garbage collection cycles, leading to a more consistent application performance.

It adds a more complicated approach that runs two garbage collectors concurrently and employs explicit code in load and store barriers. With the new system, multi-mapped memory is no longer used, making it simpler for users to monitor heap memory utilisation and potentially allowing for a larger maximum heap size than the non-generational ZGC's 16 terabyte cap. Techniques like fast paths and slow paths, remembered-set barriers, SATB marking barriers, fused store barrier checks, and store barrier buffers are utilised to optimise the load and store barriers.

The introduction of double-buffered remembered sets and the ability to relocate without using additional heap memory in generational ZGC further enable effective young generation collection. The system also manages huge things well, allocating them to the younger generation and, if they have a lengthy lifespan, promoting them to the older generation. The roots of the old-generation object graph are seen by full garbage collectors as pointers from items in the new generation to objects in the old generation.

Generational garbage collection has long been a cornerstone of Java's memory management strategy. With the advancements introduced in Java 21, the garbage collector is more efficient and responsive than ever before. These enhancements, combined with the power of the Z Garbage Collector, make Java 21 a compelling choice for a wide range of applications, including those with stringent latency requirements and massive memory footprints. As developers continue to leverage these improvements, we can expect Java applications to exhibit even better performance and responsiveness.