Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!sm.unisys.com!randvax!leverich
From: leverich@randvax.UUCP (Brian Leverich)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Subject: Re: big programs?  data use?
Message-ID: <1853@randvax.UUCP>
Date: 9 Jan 89 21:29:08 GMT
References: <63200006@uicbert.eecs.uic.edu>
Reply-To: leverich@rand-unix.UUCP (Brian Leverich)
Organization: RAND Corp., Santa Monica, CA
Lines: 19


Knowledge-based simulation models in LISP (like simulation models in
general) can require megs of active memory.  That's because the models
contain hundreds or thousands of objects, each object has dozens of
attributes, and an average attribute may tie up anywhere from 2 to several
thousand cons cells.

For all you garbage collection gurus out there, you might have some fun
interacting with the KBSim community.  Turns out that attributes almost
never point into the center of structures, and attributes are generally
trashed as a whole.  Seems like you could use these characteristics to
make particularly efficient garbage collectors for KBSim applications.

Cheers, -B
-- 
  "Simulate it in ROSS"
  Brian Leverich                       | U.S. Snail: 1700 Main St.
  ARPAnet:     leverich@rand-unix      |             Santa Monica, CA 90406
  UUCP/usenet: decvax!randvax!leverich | Ma Bell:    (213) 393-0411 X7769