marCsweep/README.md

# marCsweep

A mark-and-sweep garbage collector written in C. 

Includes a simple virtual machine and a custom `malloc` implementation
for creating, tracing, and freeing garbage.

## Building

Compiling the project should be relatively easy, even if you aren't familiar
with `make`.

Dependencies: `git`, `make`, and `gcc`.

```
git clone https://codeberg.org/andyscott/marCsweep.git

cd marCsweep

make release # or debug
```

That's it! Make will create the `bin` directory and place the finished
executable there.

Compiling with `clang` is also supported, just replace "gcc" with "clang" in the
first line of the `Makefile`. Also note that if you don't specify a target for
make (i.e. "release" or "debug") both will be built. Debug builds are placed in
the `debug` directory.

## Running

Once compiled, the program can be run with the following:

```
cd bin # or debug

./gc
```

The results of the test cases will be output to your terminal:

> test_int_alloc: PASS  
test_pair_alloc: PASS  
test_obj_count: PASS  
test_pair_alloc: PASS  
test_unreachable: PASS  
test_auto_gc: PASS

If all six tests pass, then the library compiles correctly on your system and
should be ready for experimentation!

## Notes

This is a personal project that I am writing in my free time to learn more about
garbage collection. Thank you to [Robert
Nystrom](https://journal.stuffwithstuff.com/2013/12/08/babys-first-garbage-collector/)
for the idea. 

Sadly, it was this author's idea to extend the project by writing a custom
`malloc`. Perhaps I should have been lazy and used the preexisting definitions,
but where's the fun in that?