3 ms·
In my experience, I simply do this as a way of polling the app to see whether it's still working. A working app will often have the main gui loop running so you
by gnaffle 13y ago
In my experience, I simply do this as a way of polling the app to see whether it's still working. A working app will often have the main gui loop running so you'll be able to see the GUI respond to clicks, focus changes etc. If the app doesn't do that, it's a sign that it's blocked waiting for something (network or file access, for instance). Experience then informs me whether it's normal for a certain app to behave in this way, and whether I should wait longer to let it finish or just kill it off.
So for instance, a long time ago I was an Opera user on Linux. In certain cases some bug would cause it to go on a memory eating rampage which would slow the machine to a crawl of swapping if I didn't react quickly enough to kill the process. I developed a very good sense at "smelling" when this was about to happen, so I could react quickly enough to kill the process before just switching over to the terminal would take something like a minute.
- Foomandoonian 13y agoSame here. In addition, I usually attempt to perform an action that will result in a visible response, like scrolling or selecting text, so that if/when the app does start responding again, I'll see. I also sometimes move the window or switch to another window to see if it's the app or a bigger problem.
- whattheken 13y agoI usually switch to another window or program as well, in the hopes that the other window/program will distract me long enough to give the slow app an opportunity to recover. If other windows/programs are slow as well, then I start killing processes.
- pnathan 13y agoAgreed, same here. If the app responds, good. If the app doesn't respond, check to see if it ate the computer (i.e., allocated all of swap and is now thrashing). So clicking/other movements are sort of a basic manual health check.
- pasbesoin 13y agoSometimes, there appears to be a loop that presents a limited-duration period/window of responsiveness but does not process prior input. I'll make repeated input in an attempt to catch that window. This is another type of behavior that one tends to "develop a feel" for.