RE: dealloc vs dealloc(n)

["Walden H. Leverich" <WaldenL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Since the ILE heap is so large, we can usually afford to just keep on
> issuing alloc for more  and more storage.
 
The address space may be large enough to do that[1] but if you're not releasing the storage them the memory manager needs to keep that memory allocated to you. Obviously it will swap out at some point, and that's great, but it still has to be stored, tracked and managed somewhere and that all takes disk, memory and CPU time. 
 
Say you alloc 10K for an image request in a web server. Say you have 10,000 requests a day (small server) and say you IPL your machine (or at least cycle the server) once a month, you're still looking at 3G of memory that's got to be maintained and managed. If you dealloc-ed you'd peak at something like 30K of memory, and average close to 0K of memory. Always better to dealloc!
 
-Walden
 
[1] Then again "640K will be more than enough for anyone". :) 
 
--
Walden H Leverich III
Tech Software
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WaldenL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:WaldenL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
http://www.TechSoftInc.com <http://www.techsoftinc.com/> 
Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur. (Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.)