SCP Special Issue on Memory Management - call for contributions

Science of Computer Programming


Special Issue on
Memory Management
Guest Editor: Richard Jones




Call for contributions


Dynamic memory management is an important feature of all modern programming
languages. It accounts for a significant fraction of program execution time,
whether explicit memory management or automatic garbage collection is used.
Efficient, and correct, implementation is vital. The continuing disparity
between improvements in processor and memory speeds, combined with application
environments ranging from heavily multi-threaded servers with multi-gigabyte
heaps to small personal devices, throws up new research challenges.


The widespread use of languages such as Java, Perl and Python in substantial
applications of commercial import has brought garbage collection into the
mainstream: it is more important than ever before. The deployment of many of
these applications has until recently been largely restricted to servers or web
browsers. However, the advent of managed code in Microsoft's Common Language
Infrastructure on the one hand, and the prevalence of Java applications in
small devices such as phones on the other, means that garbage-collected
applications will become prevalent on the desktop and in the pocket. On the
other hand, garbage collection does not come with out cost, and explicit memory
management continues to be the technique of choice for some environments and
applications.


This special issue is dedicated to dynamic memory management including both
garbage collection and explicit memory management. It will be published in the
journal Science of Computer Programming, which implies excellent visibility and
high quality standards. We solicit quality contributions on all areas of memory
management, including, but not limited to:


. Garbage collection algorithms and implementations.
. Region-based memory management.
. Explicit storage allocation and deallocation.
. Techniques for characterising the dynamic memory behaviour of programs.
. Empirical studies of program's allocation and referencing behaviour.
. Performance evaluation of memory managers.
. Compiler support for dynamic memory management.
. Interactions with languages, operating systems and hardware, especially the
    memory system.


Deadlines


Deadline for submissions: 29 April 2005
Author's notification: 29 July 2005
Special issue's publication: Winter 2005/Spring 2006
Special issue's web site: http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/~rej/scp/


Submissions


The submissions should be sent in PDF or Postscript to the guest editor via
email: R.E.Jones@kent.ac.uk. Extended versions of work previously published in
conference proceedings are eligible for submission but authors should make it
clear how their submission improves upon the conference publication; in those
cases where Elsevier is not the publisher of the original conference
proceedings, authors should take care to avoid infringing that publisher's
copyright. Authors who wish to discuss potential submissions are encouraged to
contact the guest editor.


The Science of Computer Programming journal's policy is to impose restrictions
in advance neither on the number of papers nor their length. However, as the
special issue will contain between 90 and 125 pages, it is anticipated that it
will contain a mixture of papers of between 15 and 30 pages. The Elsevier-LaTex
package
http://authors.elsevier.com/locate/latex
together with instructions on how to prepare a file, is available from the
journal's website. Further details of the journal's policies, and its
requirements for prospective authors, can be found in the author GATEWAY
http://authors.elsevier.com/pub/505623/
at the journal's web site
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/scico
or in a recent issue of the journal.
--




Richard Jones

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