[fmstephe]

Good question, my claim was _very_ vague. The current GC in Go is inefficient in its use of CPU.

Specifically because it uses a non-moving collector it has a sweep phase which frees each of the dead allocations.

In Java, or similarly .net, the use of a moving collector means that dead objects aren't freed. The live objects are moved out of the current memory region and the whole region is then 'free'. If you have few live allocations and lots of dead allocations in that region then your GC cycle is much more efficient.

I can't comment on memory usage experiences. I have written very careful Java programs that ran on the 64bit hotspot server in ~40mb or memory. I've written Java programs that used gigs, and I've written the same range in Go.

I would like to quickly note that I actually like the Go GC. I think they are on a very promising path to a potentially great GC. But they are also given to some public hyperbole which I find awkward.