Can I Temporarily Pause Garbage Collection in .NET for High-Performance Applications?

Preventing Garbage Collection for a Short Duration in .NET

In high-performance applications handling large data, garbage collection (GC) can introduce delays during critical periods. This article addresses strategies for temporarily pausing GC and minimizing its impact.

Can GC Be Paused for the Entire Program?

Yes, .NET 4.6 introduced the GC.TryStartNoGCRegion and GC.EndNoGCRegion methods. These allow you to create a "no-GC region" where GC will not run.

Example:

using System;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;

public class NoGCRegion
{
    public static void RunNoGC(Action action)
    {
        GC.TryStartNoGCRegion();
        action();
        GC.EndNoGCRegion();
    }
}

Using GC.Collect() to Force Garbage Collection

Yes, you can force garbage collection using GC.Collect(), but the duration of the GC-free period is not guaranteed. GC will run until all eligible objects are collected.

Minimizing Garbage Collection

To reduce the need for GC:

• Use value types instead of reference types: Value types are stored on the stack, eliminating the need for GC.
• Cache objects: Reusing objects reduces object creation and GC pressure.
• Dispose of objects explicitly: Use IDisposable interfaces to explicitly clean up resources, sending them to the finalizer queue for GC.
• Prefer weak references: Weak references do not prevent objects from being garbage collected, but they allow you to access them without keeping them alive.

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