Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!ts
From: ts@cup.portal.com (Tim W Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Handles and Virtual Memory
Message-ID: <25471@cup.portal.com>
Date: 29 Dec 89 08:31:26 GMT
References: <3875@atr-la.atr.co.jp> <4525@helios.ee.lbl.gov>
  <9415@hoptoad.uucp>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 14

Even if the heap size could be changed, handles are a nice thing to
have under a VM system.  The ability to shuffle things around to
compact (virtual) memory will make almost any memory allocation
algorithm run better.  Especially linked list schemes.

If the typical memory allocation size is larger than the page size,
then it probably doesn't matter much.  But if a lot of small things
need to be allocated, handles are great.

Also, having your working set in contiguous virtual memory rather
than scatter all over the place should make paging run better.


					Tim Smith