Comment on Cheney's list-compaction algorithm

Authors:
Robert R. Fenichel
Affiliations:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Venue:
Communications of the ACM
Year:
1971

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Abstract

C.J. Cheney [2] implicitly assumes that cells of list storage are self-identifying. Cheney needs this assumption so that his algorithm, when linearly scanning the memory containing a copy of a list, can determine whether particular bit patterns within that memory are pointers to other list structure. The assumption is strong, and its effect is contrary to that of the list compaction which is his algorithm's purpose.