SLMYQ@USU.BITNET (04/23/88)
> A SMART_REFRESH window only takes up memory (compared to a >SIMPLE_REFRESH window) when it is obscured by other windows. Most of The problem is when I boot up DME (or any other program that uses smart refresh windows) on top of a CLI. In that case it's the CLI window, not DME, that's hogging memory. But then if you open several DME windows on top of each other... >us use SMART_REFRESH windows for the following reasons: > > -You can use ScrollRaster() with SMART. There are problems with > SIMPLE. Good point. I think if they put SUPERTEXT windows in a future version of Intuition, they'll also have to fix the simple refresh bug. > -SMART windows are much faster than SIMPLE windows when it comes > to resizing/depthcontrol/moving them. > > -Since the program must refresh SIMPLE windows, if you've got a > lot of SIMPLE windows around things get *real* slow on said > operations. Maybe make it an option - let the user select smart refresh or supertext. Maybe even make the selection automatic. If you have more than xxxK free, use smart refresh. If less, use supertext. > -Handling REFRESH events is a bitch, and slow, and I have gotten > used to instant response. Handling REFRESH events isn't too bad if the system handles it for you! :) > In addition to all of that, I have a vested interest in defending >DME, since I wrote it. If you are worried about memory use, simply iconify >DME's window(s). As long as the window you are working on is completely >visible, it takes no extra memory. I'm not flaming DME - I really like it. I think if they put the CLI on supertext, it would be better, since most people don't use more than one CLI *window*, and performance isn't such a big issue, since on the CLI most of the time is spent loading and running programs, not displaying. Sometimes after an hour of work from the CLI, I can still see on the top few lines what I typed an hour earlier! This would free up the K used by the smart refresh windows. And remember, you can't iconify a CLI like you can DME windows. Speaking of iconifying DME windows, I've noticed that if memory is running low, and you try to iconify a DME window, DME simply hangs. Nothing else goes wrong - DME just stops everything, and won't start even if I free up a bunch of memory. (Yes, I'm a 512K-dweller. :) > -Matt Bryan
dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) (04/24/88)
:Speaking of iconifying DME windows, I've noticed that if memory is running :low, and you try to iconify a DME window, DME simply hangs. Nothing else :goes wrong - DME just stops everything, and won't start even if I free up :a bunch of memory. (Yes, I'm a 512K-dweller. :) Yeh. I know. Bryce has commented on that also. There are actually a couple places where DME gets confused when something doesn't work (due to low memory). -Matt