[clug] Why isn't Java popular on the Linux Desktop? [SEC=PERSONAL]

[Sam Couter]

Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog at svana.org> wrote:
> The whole memory management methodolgy of Java seems terrible for me.
> On startup it allocates some fixed amount of memory. And when you run
> out you're stuck. I've never understood why the memory usage couldn't
> be more dynamic, allocating more as needed and freeing to the OS when
> it wasn't...

It allocates memory as it needs it, up to a pre-determined limit. Once
it approaches that limit it starts reclaiming used memory (garbage
collection). GC comes at a cost, and without that memory pressure, the
VM doesn't know how hard to push the GC.

> I mean, if you're going to all the trouble of a garbage collector, it
> should give you the freedom to manage these kinds of things, right?

Maybe that's true, but it'll take someone smarter than me to work out a
good way to do it.
-- 
Sam Couter         |  mailto:sam at couter.id.au
OpenPGP fingerprint:  A46B 9BB5 3148 7BEA 1F05  5BD5 8530 03AE DE89 C75C
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