VB.Net resources

[Large]

Hi Guys and Gals,

I made a little program in VB.Net that started and stopped my Apache2 and MySQL services on my PC, if I look at the resources of my little program which is about 20 lines of code its using about 20,000k which is about the same as IE6 when its running.

Do all VB.Net programs have high resources ?

Is their a way to make programs use less resources or is it the .Net framework that ups the resources of running programs ?

Any help much appreciated.

Kind Regards

[azcodemonkey]

Initially, yes. The environment does a virtual allocation for your app, which reserves a specific amount of memory for your app. Over time, usage *should* decrease.

[Large]

Over time, usage *should* decrease.

Thanks Weenur,

You say over time usage should decrease, how does that work ?

Does the framework know what programs I run on a regular basis, so that the more I use a .Net app the lower the resources it uses.

Please tell me if I'm thinking along the right lines ?

Kind Regards

[kjordan2001]

It's more along the lines that if it sees a program that needs more memory, it will release some for that to use.

[Large]

Hi kjordan2001,

The only thing I don't understand and what I'm trying to get my head around is why would my little 20 line application uses the same amount of resources as IE6 which is a considerably bigger program.

Kind Regards

[Mordkanin]

because you probably have quite a bit of free ram.

If you don't have much free ram, the program will take up less resources, if you have more, it'll take up more. It's just the way it works.

[azcodemonkey]

Hi kjordan2001,

The only thing I don't understand and what I'm trying to get my head around is why would my little 20 line application uses the same amount of resources as IE6 which is a considerably bigger program.

Kind Regards

The CLR performs an allocation regarless of actual memory required. In reality, your app is probably only using maybe 1 MB. The memory allocated is known as the managed heap. It is faster to allocate new memory from the managed heap than it is from unmanaged space. That's why the CLR does what it does. This is the price of managed applications.

[smurfiness]

The CLR performs an allocation regarless of actual memory required. In reality, your app is probably only using maybe 1 MB. The memory allocated is known as the managed heap. It is faster to allocate new memory from the managed heap than it is from unmanaged space. That's why the CLR does what it does. This is the price of managed applications.

THANK YOU!

It's about goddamn time I've heard a real explanation for that. I've always known that the CLR over-allocates, but not the reason for that. I don't see why the Microsofties are at such a loss to explain the behaviour; generally they either don't answer, pretend it doesn't happen or say that programmers "are allocating too many objects now that they don't have to clean them up themselves." *cough*

[Large]

Wow, Thanks Weenur !

Thats cleared that up, I now understand.

Thanks again ! :happy:

[anakinsolois]

Hmm is there anyway of forcibly reducing this allocation? From the developers side that is?

[bangbang023 Veteran]

Hmm is there anyway of forcibly reducing this allocation? From the developers side that is?

There is a way to, but, honestly, I use it, and I plan on removing it from my app. It's not worth it. The program uses the same amount of memory no matter what.

Weenur.....definitely one of the best in this forum. Good explanation man.

[anakinsolois]

Well what is the code for it, just out of curiosity?

[anog]

? ?Public Sub FreeMemory()
 ? ? ? ?System.GC.Collect()
 ? ? ? ?System.GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers()
 ? ? ? ?SetProcessWorkingSetSize(Process.GetCurrentProcess().Handle, -1, -1)
 ? ?End Sub

T;)t should work ;)

[Winston]

Yeah the SetProcessWorkingSetSize API will work... however... i'ts said at times to not use it, not sure why, i initially used this when i use the 1.0 framework, it does decrease the usage, but really the Task Manager, doesn't actually show how much memory is physically consumed by the actual process, as mentioned, it's forward allocated, and the more apps you have opened, and memory is decreasing your applications will generally decrease as well... It's all mental thing, even if you use this API call, you won't have a performance increase, but have ther task manager displaying the real amount of memory actually being used by your application.

[anog]

Yeah, its a psycological (how is that spelt?) thing... If you give your app to a friend and he sees it using 50MB of memory, he simply won't use it.. let alone a person who does not even know you... So I actually had to include that in my app so people would use it... And explaining that memory would be freed when the system needed it was not enough.. :s

[anakinsolois]

It says SetProcessWorkingSetSize is not declared. What do i declare it as?

[Winston]

It says SetProcessWorkingSetSize is not declared. What do i declare it as?

It's not just calling that, you have to import a DLL i remember.

[anakinsolois]

er, how do i do that?

[anakinsolois]

er anyone?

[Winston]

ummmm i read that you're new to VB.NET, perhaps you should learn more about the language etc.. first before attempting, like i had to use this because i did mine for an assignment other than that, i wouldn't use it... so just take the peoples words for it, it's not really necessary...

[anakinsolois]

Yeah actually i am trying to learn the language. What exactly is the code? I dont really need it but its nice to know

[azcodemonkey]

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

	public class Win32APIs
	{
  [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
  public extern static bool SetWorkingProcessSetSize( IntPtr hProcess, int min, int max );
	}

It shouldn't be too different for VB.NET

[anakinsolois]

Where would I put the code?