This class describes a 32-bit direct-pointer object memory for Smalltalk. The model is very simple in principle: a pointer is either a SmallInteger or a 32-bit direct object pointer.
SmallIntegers are tagged with a low-order bit equal to 1, and an immediate 31-bit 2s-complement signed value in the rest of the word.
All object pointers point to a object header, which may be followed by a number of data fields. This object memory achieves considerable compactness by using a variable header size (the one complexity of the design). The format of the 0th header word is as follows:
If a class is in the compact class table, then this is the only header information needed. If it is not, then it will have another header word at offset -4 bytes with its class in the high 30 bits, and the header type repeated in its low 2 bits. It the objects size is greater than 255 bytes, then it will have yet another header word at offset -8 bytes with its full word size in the high 30 bits and its header type repeated in the low two bits.
So an object header is either 4, 8 or 12 bytes.
The object format field provides the remaining information as given in the formatOf: method (including isPointers, isVariable, isBytes, and the low 2 size bits of byte-sized objects).
This implementation includes incremental (2-generation) and full garbage collection, each with compaction and rectification of direct pointers. It also supports a bulk-become (exchange object identity) feature that allows many objects to be becomed at once, as when all instances of a class must be grown or shrunk.
