How does Go handle memory management without a garbage collector like Java's?

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How does Go handle memory management without a garbage collector like Java's?

Asked on Dec 10, 2025

Answer

Go uses a garbage collector for memory management, similar to Java, but it is designed to be more efficient and have lower latency. Go's garbage collector is optimized for concurrent workloads, allowing it to handle memory allocation and deallocation with minimal pause times, making it suitable for high-performance applications.

Example Concept: Go's garbage collector is a concurrent, mark-and-sweep collector that operates alongside goroutines. It minimizes stop-the-world pauses by performing most of its work concurrently with the program execution. The garbage collector identifies unreachable objects and reclaims their memory, allowing Go programs to manage memory efficiently without manual intervention.

Additional Comment:

Go's garbage collector is designed to work efficiently with goroutines, Go's concurrency model.
Developers can control garbage collection behavior using environment variables like `GOGC` to adjust the garbage collection frequency.
Go's memory management aims to provide a balance between performance and simplicity, reducing the need for manual memory management.

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