The Serial and Throughput (also known as Parallel) Garbage Collectors in Java are designed for different types of applications and hardware configurations, each with its own operational characteristics and performance implications.
Serial Garbage Collector
The Serial Garbage Collector is the simplest form of garbage collection available in Java. It uses a single thread to perform all garbage collection tasks, which means it freezes all application threads during garbage collection (Stop the World event). This simplicity makes it efficient on single-processor machines or in environments where minimal processing overhead is desired due to its lack of thread synchronization overhead[1][2][3][4].
Key Characteristics:
Uses a single thread for garbage collection.
Suitable for applications with small data sets and running on client-style machines or single-processor systems.
Causes application pauses during garbage collection, making it less suitable for applications requiring low pause times.
Enabled by default on certain hardware and operating system configurations, or can be explicitly enabled with the JVM option -XX:+UseSerialGC[1][2][3].
Throughput (Parallel) Garbage Collector
The Throughput Garbage Collector, on the other hand, is designed to maximize the overall throughput of the application. It uses multiple threads to perform garbage collection, which can significantly speed up the garbage collection process on multiprocessor systems. However, like the Serial Garbage Collector, it also stops all application threads during garbage collection, leading to potential pauses[1][2][3][4].
