🚀 go-pugleaf

Kazimir Kylheku (c2a192@ugrad.cs.ubc.ca) wrote:
: So what to Mac programmers do to handle the case when allocation fails even
: after compaction has been done? Most programs I have seen simply bomb the

your "grow zone" function gets called by the memory manager.  This 
function is passed the amount of space that needs to be freed in order to 
complete the allocation request.  So this is the perfect place to dispose 
of any non-crutial memory, such as icon caches, ect.

if your grow zone function still can't free up any memory to complete the 
request (or if you didn't bother to install the function at all), the 
memory request will, of course, return null - not crash the computer.  
The crashes come from lazy programmers that don't check for failed memory 
requests, coupled with the Mac's current non-protected memory scheme.

: after compaction has been done? Most programs I have seen simply bomb the
: entire machine. I ran a UUCP gateway program on a Mac that wouldn't survive
: the weekend. When the feed got backlogged, the program would get swamped
: and spam the whole machine. I increased its partition size, but this ate
: several megabytes of RAM even when not using it. Is this what you mean
: by letting the user deal with problems? Incidentally, the problem was
: solved with the acquisition of another Macintosh to run the program.

again, I can't vouch for lazy programmers, but it is a sad truth that 
poorly written programs can _easily_ bring a Mac to its knees, whereas with 
UNIX protected mem you just lose the process that was bad...

-Ammon

--
Ammon Skidmore       | http://bert.cs.byu.edu/~ammon/ammon.html
Skidperfect Software | http://www.shore.net/~chanson
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