Jeremy Bowers wrote: .....
I've been using vm systems for 30 years and I suspect my mental model is a bit decrepit. However, as convincingly demonstrated by testing my mental model seems able to predict low memory problems. When systems run out of memory they tend to perform poorly. I'm not sure the horrible degradation I see with large files is necessary, but I know it occurs on at least one common vm implementation.
As you try to understand mmap, make sure your mental model can take into account the fact that it is easy and quite common to mmap a file several times larger than your physical memory, and it does not even *try* to read the whole thing in at any given time. You may benefit from reviewing/studying the difference between virtual memory and physical memory.
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Robin Becker
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