Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!umich!umeecs!zip.eecs.umich.edu!arie From: arie@eecs.umich.edu (Arie Covrigaru) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps Subject: Re: MacDraw II's background activity Message-ID: Date: 31 Mar 91 04:17:45 GMT References: <1CE00001.bfaigj7@tbomb.ice.com> <8336@skye.cs.ed.ac.uk> <251@claris.com> Sender: news@zip.eecs.umich.edu Reply-To: arie@eecs.umich.edu Organization: AI Lab, University of Michigan Lines: 47 In-Reply-To: rick@claris.com's message of 30 Mar 91 21:38:35 GMT >>>>> On 30 Mar 91 21:38:35 GMT, rick@claris.com (Rick Boarman) said: | There's a couple possibilities: | 1) Low memory. We don't do any special garbage collection or weird | heap management. The ToolBox slows down pretty bad when free memory is | less than about 100k. | 2) Large files. If there more than about ten thousand objects things can | get a bit slow (unless you have an fx). | 3) Inits. This is our biggest source of problems. Many inits eat up a lot | of time and memory. Of all the calls to tech support a huge number turn | out to be either a strange or multiple system folders related problems. | The program itself does very little during idle time. It just tracks the | cursor and does some upkeep tasks. What are we doing about this? Well, | in MacDraw Pro we have switched over to new system calls that better | support MultiFinder (MacDraw II is a fairly old program as far as code | goes). We've done a lot to optimize performance and help manage memory | better. For instance, MacDraw II keeps an offscreen buffer the same | size and bit depth as the monitor. We now crop the buffer as the window | size shrinks and we don't let it grow too big. | Hope this helps. | Rick | -- | * Rick Boarman * UUCP: {ames,apple,portal,sun,voder}!claris!rick | * Claris Corp. * Internet: rick@claris.com | * * AppleLink: Boarman | Opinions are mine alone and do not reflect Claris policy. Actually, I still don't understand. In my original posting I asked what is MacDraw II doing in the background when I am using ANOTHER program (for example a terminal emulator). Your explanation seems to answer the question (if it would have been asked) what is MacDraw II doing in the background when I am using it, not when it is in the background. -- ============================================================================= Arie Covrigaru | University of Michigan AI Lab Phone: (313)763-1255 | Room 149, Advanced Technology Bldg. Internet: arie@eecs.umich.edu | 1101 Beal Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 =============================================================================