From Zero to Hero: Garbage Collection in .NET

Source: https://dometrain.com/course/from-zero-to-hero-garbage-collection-in-dotnet/

Memory management in .NET is largely automated, but misunderstanding the Garbage Collector is a fast track to introducing severe performance bottlenecks and memory leaks into your applications. This course is a comprehensive breakdown of how garbage collection actually works in .NET, built up from the underlying memory architecture. You will start with the basic mechanics, exploring the differences between the Stack and the Heap, memory fragmentation, and how virtual memory operates. From there, the course moves into the core fundamentals of the GC, covering Generations, object scoping, and the practical differences between allocating short-lived and long-lived objects. You will also learn how to measure these behaviors directly using a performance profiler and finalizer benchmarks.

Once the fundamentals are in place, the course explores the advanced mechanics of the runtime. You will examine GC thread suspension, the Large Object Heap, and how escape analysis allows you to write allocation-free code. Finally, you will cover the critical differences between server and workstation modes, how to properly handle managed and unmanaged resources using IDisposable and the disposable pattern, and why you might need a protected internal modifier in that context. The course wraps up by exploring specific runtime features, including GC DATAS, the No GC Region API, and how to correctly use a Weak Reference.