The programmer's term is "garbage collection". Ideally a program will return the memory space to exactly the same condition after it quits as it was in before it was launched.
Apple and Microsoft both took the easy (for them!) way and left it up to each program to do its own garbage collection. Unfortunately a whole lot of programmers aren't too great at knowing the garbage collection routines of the language(s) they program in. (What can you expect when programmers can't or won't write a self checking routine that prevents an app from writing over itself in memory? Ie, NETSCAPE.EXE caused a [choose an error] in NETSCAPE.EXE. Digital hari-kari!) More robust operating systems enforce garbage collection. When an app launches it gets X memory. When the app quits the _OS_ grabs the memory back and returns it to the available pool. ===== "The earth swarms with inhabitants. Why then should nature, which is fruitful to an excess here, be so very barren in the rest of the planets?" Bernard de Fontenelle, 1686 [EMAIL PROTECTED] My ICQ# 16024947 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com -- Vintage Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Vintage Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml> The FAQ: <http://macfaq.org/> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/vintage.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
