A Brief Introduction to Regions

Abstract

The paper gives an overview of region-based memory management. The emphasis of the paper is on the dynamic aspects of execution, specifically memory management. We illustrate how three static program analyses can be used for inferring memory management directives. They are region inference, physical size inference, and storage mode analysis. We describe these analyses for a skeletal language inspired by Standard ML. We also describe a region-based runtime system for the skeletal language, based on the runtime system of the ML Kit with Regions.