Strings & Memory Usage

[Jeff Kesselman]

There is a general approach where you never copy memory until it is
modified.  When a valeu is copiedm yo usimply vopy the pointer.  You keep a
reference coutn and when data is MODIFIED through the pointer TEHN and ONLY
then do you make a seperate copy.

JK

At 08:07 PM 4/14/97 +0100, you wrote:
>Is there a common way to save the memory used up by storing strings? I'm 
>sure something was said on this subject in the RGMA 'MUD Memory' thread 
>(by George Reese, IIRC)
>
>I will probably be using some sort of bytecode compilation on my mud now. 
>Would this method of memory saving simply involve checking a list of 
>those strings currently in memory, and either adding a new string, or 
>adding a pointer to an old string? (that would probably slow down the 
>process unless the storage structure was right, tho)
>
>Thanks,
>Greg.
>
>PS On the subject of project management, I was planning on some sort of 
>autocratic method, quite simply because I have experienced first-hand the 
>political nightmare of a democracy (see my intro). I'll probably have 
>some communication medium through which people can talk about design 
>ideas, then I would decide what I wanted, and share the work out to 
>numerous people. One of the goals of Frontiers is to have a code base 
>which *anyone* can contribute to - thats one of the reasons i'll be using 
>the copyleft. Probably a core base of serious programmers, and 
>'contractors' who want to do the odd feature here and there. I do think 
>it important that the programmers dont make unilateral design changes 
>while coding tho - they should report design flaws, where a solution 
>should either be given by me (if a simple fix), or discussed by everyone. 
>The documentation of every development stage is of paramount importance - 
>it sickens me how poorly documented muds and code bases are. In fact, it 
>might be to blame, to a degree, on the massive proliferation of stock 
>muds; mudders are hobbyists, so want some code to hack - they dont want 
>to create a unique game, most arent that serious about it. 
>
>Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt it.
>
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