| Title | No default value for MPS_KEY_ARENA_SIZE |
| Status | closed |
| Priority | nice |
| Assigned user | Gareth Rees |
| Organization | Ravenbrook |
| Description | Choosing the initial arena size for a VM arena is pretty much the first thing you have to do when integrating with the MPS [1], and it's not clear what the right value is. It would be nice if you didn't have to choose. See also djbench.c [2] where there's a comment: /* FIXME: Why is there no default? */ |
| Analysis | It's necessary to choose a good value here because "the more times [the MPS] has to extend its address space, the less efficient garbage collection will become" [1] -- this is job003554. But when job003554 is fixed, the sensible thing for the VM arena to do is to allocate the smallest possible chunk (see job003495) and then extend it as needed. |
| How found | inspection |
| Evidence | [1] <http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/mps/...guide/lang.html#choosing-an-arena-class>[2] < http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/mps/master/code/djbench.c> |
| Test procedure | abqtest, airtest |
| Created by | Gareth Rees |
| Created on | 2014-04-08 12:00:23 |
| Last modified by | Gareth Rees |
| Last modified on | 2014-10-20 17:38:12 |
| History | 2014-04-08 GDR Created. |
| Change | Effect | Date | User | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 185472 | closed | 2014-04-11 21:15:09 | Gareth Rees | Default value for MPS_KEY_ARENA_SIZE makes it easier to create arenas. |