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Garbage Collection

Short Introduction​

Garbage Collection (GC) in .NET automatically manages memory allocation and deallocation, freeing developers from manual memory management.

Official Definition​

Garbage Collection is an automatic memory management feature of .NET that periodically identifies and frees memory that is no longer being used by the application.

Usage​

// GC is automatic, but you can interact with it
public class ResourceIntensiveClass : IDisposable
{
    private bool disposed = false;

    public void Dispose()
    {
        Dispose(true);
        GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
    }

    protected virtual void Dispose(bool disposing)
    {
        if (!disposed)
        {
            if (disposing)
            {
                // Dispose managed resources
            }
            // Free unmanaged resources
            disposed = true;
        }
    }

    ~ResourceIntensiveClass()
    {
        Dispose(false);
    }
}

// Force garbage collection (generally not recommended)
GC.Collect();
GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();

When to Use / When Not to Use​

Generally avoid manual GC calls except:

  • Memory-intensive applications
  • After large object disposal
  • Performance testing scenarios

Pros​

  • Automatic memory management
  • Prevents memory leaks
  • Optimized for application patterns

Cons​

  • Non-deterministic timing
  • Can cause pause times
  • Less control over memory layout