[gclist] SCP Special Issue on Memory Management - call for contributions

[Richard Jones]

		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 at 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.