On 1/1/2011 12:08 PM, whatwg-requ...@lists.whatwg.org wrote:
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2010 22:01:42 -0600 From: Boris Zbarsky
<bzbar...@mit.edu> On 12/31/10 7:35 PM, Charles Pritchard wrote:
> If I were to receive an event, letting me know a low memory condition
> exists
There are various ways to try to work around this by trying to
pre-reserve a memory pool, but they're not very reliable. I suggest
...
get deallocated until garbage collection happens. Garbage collection
can require memory to perform. In the case of Gecko, collecting
...
So by the time you're out of memory, doing this is too late. It won't work.
...
And significantly greater implementation complexity for browsers if they
try to make it work. And it still wouldn't work.
...
Then get desktop OS vendors to give applications a way to detect low
memory reliably.
Implementation details would not be defined by the spec.
Implementation fo the event type would be low-cost, backward compatible,
and a simple entry to existing spec docs.
"lowmemory" does not need to mean that the OS is experiencing a low
memory condition.
Here are some example implementations; it's up to the vendor, not the spec.
Tabbed browsing implementation:
Send a lowmemory event to hidden tabs listening (for lowmemory), that
have not been visible for more than 60 seconds.
(This is a partial example, as it doesn't detail when the tabs would be
checked for visibility. )
The example requires no OS mem-warnings and would allow use cases such
as mine, to clean up a little, when lowmemory is fired.
Mobile implementation:
Mobile operating systems have lowmemory warnings, they are important for
the durability of web apps running in mobile browsers.
"Expensive" implementation:
My mail client and web clients often compete with each other for memory:
Mozilla apps drop image icons, WebKit crashes tabs.
After a few tabs are crashed, or a few icons are dropped, they could
certainly send a lowmemory event to remaining listeners.
-Charles
