4 ms·

The memory overhead of Visual Studio Code is insane. Don't see how they did a good job optimizing anything there.

by 0x006A 8y ago

jrs95 8y ago
It only seems like it because a year ago Atom was so much worse.
Delmania 8y ago
Why are you complaining about memory usage? How much RAM do you have? Most developer machines come with at least 8 Gb, and you can easily add in an additional 24 or 56. Something to keep in mind is that unused memory is a waste. Windows actually keeps the most used applications in memory for faster access time. Between the wide availability of RAM and SSDs, complaining about memory usage on a developer machine is a rather archaic mindset.
- jcelerier 8y ago
  > Something to keep in mind is that unused memory is a waste yes, but I'd like to put my own stuff in RAM, not accidental RAM usage due to the technologies being chosen.
- rmsaksida 8y ago
  > you can easily add in an additional 24 or 56 No, you can't. If you have an MBP, for example, RAM is soldered onto the mother board and cannot be upgraded. If you have a Thinkpad x220 or x230 like a lot of us do, you can only go up to 16GB because the BIOS doesn't support any more. And regardless of which laptop you use, RAM is expensive in a lot of places. You can't expect everyone to throw hundreds of dollars at RAM just so they can run VS Code. Not to mention the "throw more hardware at it" attitude is the reason why we have bloated inefficient software in the first place.
- sammoth 8y ago
  >you can easily add in an additional 24 or 56 Yeah, for like $700
- na85 8y ago
  Yes but this article is not about developers. Not everyone who uses excel can just dump 700 bucks worth of memory into their corporate provided workstation. Regular users matter too.
- Comevius 8y ago
  The most popular developer machines (MacBook Pro) come with either 8 GB or 16 GB LPDDR3 (not upgreadable). Intel's Cannon Lake is the only CPU that can use LPDDR4, but they are yet to solve their yield problems. "unused memory is a waste" Programs with a bigger working set tend to run slower, because of bottlenecks across the memory hierarchy.
  - hungerstrike 8y ago
    > The most popular developer machines (MacBook Pro)... That's incorrect. The vast, vast majority of developers around the entire world are running Windows and on a PC, not a Mac.
    - Comevius 8y ago
      You are right, Windows is the primary OS developer's use (Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2018: 49.9%) followed by OS X (26.7%).
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
- patchguard 8y ago
  Since when is Office a developer tool that runs only on dev machines?
- systoll 8y ago
  Minimising the memory usage doesn't just create wasted 'free memory'. Among other things... > Windows actually keeps the most used applications in [inactive] memory for faster access time. When an app uses extra memory, it prevents this from happening. If the extra memory use doesn't help the user, the net effect is a harmed user experience, even if they have enough memory to hold everything the currently running apps want to store.

The memory overhead of Visual Studio Code is insane. Don't see how they did a good job optimizing anything there.

by 0x006A 8y ago

The memory overhead of Visual Studio Code is insane. Don't see how they did a good job optimizing anything there.

jrs95 8y ago

It only seems like it because a year ago Atom was so much worse.

Delmania 8y ago

Why are you complaining about memory usage? How much RAM do you have? Most developer machines come with at least 8 Gb, and you can easily add in an additional 24 or 56. Something to keep in mind is that unused memory is a waste. Windows actually keeps the most used applications in memory for faster access time. Between the wide availability of RAM and SSDs, complaining about memory usage on a developer machine is a rather archaic mindset.

jcelerier 8y ago
> Something to keep in mind is that unused memory is a waste yes, but I'd like to put my own stuff in RAM, not accidental RAM usage due to the technologies being chosen.
rmsaksida 8y ago
> you can easily add in an additional 24 or 56 No, you can't. If you have an MBP, for example, RAM is soldered onto the mother board and cannot be upgraded. If you have a Thinkpad x220 or x230 like a lot of us do, you can only go up to 16GB because the BIOS doesn't support any more. And regardless of which laptop you use, RAM is expensive in a lot of places. You can't expect everyone to throw hundreds of dollars at RAM just so they can run VS Code. Not to mention the "throw more hardware at it" attitude is the reason why we have bloated inefficient software in the first place.
sammoth 8y ago
>you can easily add in an additional 24 or 56 Yeah, for like $700
na85 8y ago
Yes but this article is not about developers. Not everyone who uses excel can just dump 700 bucks worth of memory into their corporate provided workstation. Regular users matter too.
Comevius 8y ago
The most popular developer machines (MacBook Pro) come with either 8 GB or 16 GB LPDDR3 (not upgreadable). Intel's Cannon Lake is the only CPU that can use LPDDR4, but they are yet to solve their yield problems. "unused memory is a waste" Programs with a bigger working set tend to run slower, because of bottlenecks across the memory hierarchy.
- hungerstrike 8y ago
  > The most popular developer machines (MacBook Pro)... That's incorrect. The vast, vast majority of developers around the entire world are running Windows and on a PC, not a Mac.
  - Comevius 8y ago
    You are right, Windows is the primary OS developer's use (Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2018: 49.9%) followed by OS X (26.7%).
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
patchguard 8y ago
Since when is Office a developer tool that runs only on dev machines?
systoll 8y ago
Minimising the memory usage doesn't just create wasted 'free memory'. Among other things... > Windows actually keeps the most used applications in [inactive] memory for faster access time. When an app uses extra memory, it prevents this from happening. If the extra memory use doesn't help the user, the net effect is a harmed user experience, even if they have enough memory to hold everything the currently running apps want to store.