Building a Copying GC for the Plush Programming Language (pointersgonewild.com)

A key development has emerged in the Plush programming language project with the implementation of a copying garbage collector (GC). Plush, which emphasizes actor-based parallelism and simplifies multithreaded programming, now enables seamless message passing between actors without the need for immutability restrictions or complex freeze-layer management. This approach helps maintain performance while efficiently managing memory allocations, benefiting beginners and experienced developers alike. The dual-allocator system—comprising a private allocator for fast local memory allocation and a mailbox allocator for incoming messages—enhances performance by reducing lock contention. This advancement is particularly significant for the AI/ML community, as it opens up opportunities for developing complex programs, such as neural networks, without crashing due to memory allocation limits. After collaborating to tackle the GC, the team achieved impressive results, including running real-time 3D graphics on modest hardware. While challenges remain, such as handling backlog in message queues, the foundational work lays the groundwork for long-running applications in Plush, furthering its potential as a creative platform for sound, graphics, and AI-driven projects. The community is encouraged to contribute to ongoing performance improvements and explore creative applications within the Plush ecosystem.