Why is garbage collection necessary – Texas Instruments TI-83 PLUS User Manual

Page 626

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TI-83 Plus

Memory and Variable Management

623

After garbage collection, depending on how much additional space is
freed, the variable may or may not be archived. If not, you can unarchive
some variables and try again.

Why Not Perform Garbage Collection Automatically Without a
Message?

The message:

Lets you know an archive will take longer than usual. It also alerts
you that the archive will fail if there is not enough memory.

Can alert you when a program is caught in a loop that repetitively fills
the user data archive. Cancel the archive and determine the reason.

Why Is Garbage Collection Necessary?

The user data archive is divided into sectors. When you first begin
archiving, variables are stored consecutively in sector 1. This continues
to the end of the sector.

An archived variable is stored in a continuous block within a single
sector. Unlike an application stored in user data archive, an archived
variable cannot cross a sector boundary. If there is not enough space left
in the sector, the next variable is stored at the beginning of the next
sector. Typically, this leaves an empty block at the end of the previous
sector.

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