> | But I doubt that projects to buy small linear gains in memory usage > | are mainstream very worthwhile in the long run (non-linear gains are > | *always* worth going after by contrast). > > I wasn't aware that people were exclusively concentrating on small > linear gains.
although don't know if the use of broader use of GC is appropriate, note the obvious: small gains cumulatively produce larger gains; just as small inefficiencies tend to cumulatively yield larger ones. so would guess that if memory utilization efficiency, which effect cache efficiency, and thereby performance is considered important, every little bit counts either for or against you ultimately. (so would seem that if even only half a dozen %5-10% gains were all that remained to be had, they could enable a memory reduction from 1GB -> 600MB, but acknowledge as remaining marginal gains drop below a few percent, their cumulative benefit is likely questionable, although may still be appropriate to enable a more localized performance benefit).