unix and memory, sigh (was Re: What Happens I

[Heiko Blume]

scott at texnext.gac.edu (Scott Hess) writes:

>In article <1991Jan27.183019.18321 at scuzzy.in-berlin.de> I wrote:
>   >	When compiling, GCC takes up a meg of RAM just for DATA.

>   do a 'make bigtest' on the flex source sometime, makes for a REALLY
>   big process :-)


>Actually, it's worse than you might think - most GNU utilities make
>much use of virtual memory.  Before complaining, though, remember that,
>in general, the more speed/space efficient a program, the harder it is
>to write, and the more expensive it becomes.  GNU stuff is (nearly)
>free so don't expect it to be the fastest/smallest thing on the block.

i don't complain, i use gcc, i love it,....
my point was: make bigtest eventually wants to compile a single
.c file that's 600KB in size. since i killed it because of heavy
thrashing, i only know the size for suns: total process size about
14MB, working set about 4MB :-) even if you have 16MB ram this is a
hard one to swallow. i think it shows what virtual memory can
give you, and what it can't give you.


>I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, though.  With memory at
>$35/Meg, it would be wise to check in and see just how much 4M
>adds to your machine's functionality (check out a computer store
>or friend's machine, for instance).

moving from 8 to 12MB really makes for a much better machine,
especially if you run X and IP. 
-- 
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