On Mon, 10 Feb 2003, Bill Torcaso wrote:
> > Ewan, > > As an old-time C programmer who never learned C++ but is very happy with > Java, I have a question about your comment, "my algorithms try to use > all the memory of the machine". What do you do about malloc() and > free()? It seems to me that the most significant part of the "contract" > between elements in a C program is the discipline regarding the calls to > free(), and the best-written programs have clear and sensible rules > about when that happens. It is an essential part of writing a component > to be used by someone other than the author/team that created it. Often my programs will probe the machine (harder than you think) or by provided by the user with a memory size. The algorithm will then use all the memory (via malloc). I agree with you that for people who are used to it, C malloc/free is not so bad (in particular when valgrind is around...) but I have to admit that garbage collection is generally a good thing. What I don't like is unnecessary hidden overhead in libraries/and or runtime. But... I am clearly very comfortable in C, and not in Java, so... just interested to hear how people handle the version churn and memory aspects of JVMs _______________________________________________ Biojava-l mailing list - [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://biojava.org/mailman/listinfo/biojava-l
