computer programming Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as anal ...

, housekeeping can refer to either a standard entry or exit routine appended to a user-written block of code (such as a

subroutine In computer programming, a function or subroutine is a sequence of program instructions that performs a specific task, packaged as a unit. This unit can then be used in programs wherever that particular task should be performed. Functions may ...

or function, sometimes as a function prologue and epilogue) at its entry and exit or, alternatively, to any other automated or manual software process whereby a computer is ''cleaned up'' after usage (e.g. freeing resources such as

virtual memory In computing, virtual memory, or virtual storage is a memory management technique that provides an "idealized abstraction of the storage resources that are actually available on a given machine" which "creates the illusion to users of a very ...

). This might include such activities as removing or archiving logs that the system has made as a result of the users activities, or deletion of temporary files which may otherwise simply take up space. Housekeeping can be described as a necessary chore, required to perform a particular computer's normal activity but not necessarily part of the

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing ...

. For cleaning up computer disk storage, utility software usually exists for this purpose such as

data compression In information theory, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compressio ...

software - to "shrink" files and release disk space and

defragmentation In the maintenance of file systems, defragmentation is a process that reduces the degree of fragmentation. It does this by physically organizing the contents of the mass storage device used to store files into the smallest number of contigu ...

programs - to improve disk performance."Basic Computer Housekeeping Tips"
Accessed July 20, 2009

Examples

Housekeeping could include (but is not limited to) the following activities: * Saving and restoring

program state In information technology and computer science, a system is described as stateful if it is designed to remember preceding events or user interactions; the remembered information is called the state of the system. The set of states a system can oc ...

for called functions (including

general purpose register A processor register is a quickly accessible location available to a computer's processor. Registers usually consist of a small amount of fast storage, although some registers have specific hardware functions, and may be read-only or write-only. ...

s and return address) * Obtaining local memory on the

stack Stack may refer to: Places * Stack Island, an island game reserve in Bass Strait, south-eastern Australia, in Tasmania’s Hunter Island Group * Blue Stack Mountains, in Co. Donegal, Ireland People * Stack (surname) (including a list of people ...

* Initializing local variables at the start of a program or function * Freeing local memory on the stack on exit from a function *

Garbage collection Waste collection is a part of the process of waste management. It is the transfer of solid waste from the point of use and disposal to the point of treatment or landfill. Waste collection also includes the curbside collection of recyclabl ...

Data conversion Data conversion is the conversion of computer data from one file format, format to another. Throughout a computer environment, data is Character encoding, encoded in a variety of ways. For example, computer hardware is built on the basis of cert ...

Backup In information technology, a backup, or data backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form, referring to the process of doing so, is "back up", ...

and/or removal of un-needed files and

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...

* Execution of disk maintenance utilities (e.g. ScanDisk, hard drive defragmenters,

virus scanner Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the nam ...

References

Computer performance {{computing-stub

Examples

See also

References