Optimizing reference count garbage collection

I am currently working on the construction of a new compiler for CDL3 (an
affix grammar based compiler-compiler language). Because CDL3 uses a call
by value/result procedure mechanism it was decided to use sharing of data
structures (which are non-cyclic). In implementing the standard reference
count model we discovered that this gave a HUGE impact on the speed of the
produced code (factor of 2 decrease in speed.) The reason for this
performance hit is in the amount of attach/detach operations done. So I'm
looking for techniques which minimize the number of attach/detach
operations. Any references/ideas on this subject would be very much
appreciated.


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Paul Jones
University of Nijmegen (HOLLAND)
E-mail: paulj@cs.kun.nl
[Personally, I'd switch to mark and sweep or some other form of garbage
collection that doesn't require that you update counts on the fly. -John]
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