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Yes, but if your application assumes that it should use 100% of my RAM, it's being antisocial. Don't assume that I don't have more important software that coul

Yes, but if your application assumes that it should use 100% of my RAM, it's being antisocial. Don't assume that I don't have more important software that could be utilizing my RAM in ways more important to me. That's what drives me up a wall whenever people use the "free RAM is wasted RAM" argument; the assumption that RAM unused by your software is unused by me.

codedokode 7y ago
Android found a kind of solution for this by agressively killing processes (while saving their state). This seems to be effective because developers are not motivated to help competing applications, they want to have all resources for themselves.
- liability 7y ago
  That's perhaps great in android, but you can't/shouldn't write code for Linux/Windows/MacOS, where such a system is not in use, and then protest "I'm not the one that sucks." Maybe those OSes should implement such a system, but until they have the "wasted RAM" argument needs to end for anything other than specialty professional software that can reasonably assume itself to be the raison d'être of that computer (e.g. video editing software, CAD, build systems for large software projects, etc.)
  - ferzul 7y ago
    Windows has such a system with UWP. I think UbTouch or whatever the Ubuntu phone successor distribution is called has one too. And I imagine most systems programmers could define an api if they wanted to. I think this is definitely a case where apps need to be antisocial and operating systems need to peg them in. The age of cooperative multitasking is over. Let the OS decide.
    - liability 7y ago
      Harming users to coerce OS designers is a pretty shitty plan. Sorry if that's too blunt, but that's simply the way I feel.
beatgammit 7y ago
The operating system should be responsible for managing resources like RAM, and applications should be responsible for using the right resources. Caching video is absolutely a RAM thing, since it's expected to go away once the video is done. Caching downloads is a separate matter, since it's expected to stay once finished. A good litmus test here is what you expect to happen if the machine reboots. For video, I think it's reasonable to lose all video cache, but I think downloads should be resumable. If it shouldn't be there on a reboot, use RAM. If it should, use disk. There are certainly exceptions, but I think the general rule of thumb is useful.

codedokode 7y ago

Android found a kind of solution for this by agressively killing processes (while saving their state). This seems to be effective because developers are not motivated to help competing applications, they want to have all resources for themselves.

liability 7y ago
That's perhaps great in android, but you can't/shouldn't write code for Linux/Windows/MacOS, where such a system is not in use, and then protest "I'm not the one that sucks." Maybe those OSes should implement such a system, but until they have the "wasted RAM" argument needs to end for anything other than specialty professional software that can reasonably assume itself to be the raison d'être of that computer (e.g. video editing software, CAD, build systems for large software projects, etc.)
- ferzul 7y ago
  Windows has such a system with UWP. I think UbTouch or whatever the Ubuntu phone successor distribution is called has one too. And I imagine most systems programmers could define an api if they wanted to. I think this is definitely a case where apps need to be antisocial and operating systems need to peg them in. The age of cooperative multitasking is over. Let the OS decide.
  - liability 7y ago
    Harming users to coerce OS designers is a pretty shitty plan. Sorry if that's too blunt, but that's simply the way I feel.

beatgammit 7y ago

The operating system should be responsible for managing resources like RAM, and applications should be responsible for using the right resources. Caching video is absolutely a RAM thing, since it's expected to go away once the video is done. Caching downloads is a separate matter, since it's expected to stay once finished. A good litmus test here is what you expect to happen if the machine reboots. For video, I think it's reasonable to lose all video cache, but I think downloads should be resumable. If it shouldn't be there on a reboot, use RAM. If it should, use disk. There are certainly exceptions, but I think the general rule of thumb is useful.