# Memory use question **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [September 24, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/memory-use-question/115403 "2007-09-24T22:57:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rogerdpack)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/memory-use-question/115403/1 "2007-09-24T22:57:40Z")
When I run a program, with these objects, it uses around 15-20MB of RAM, thus: VmPeak: 34308 kB VmSize: 31312 kB VmLck: 0 kB VmHWM: 18808 kB VmRSS: 16144 kB VmData: 21224 kB VmStk: 120 kB VmExe: 4 kB VmLib: 9320 kB VmPTE: 36 kB Threads: 2 … String 8620 Class 737 Regexp 410 Array 327 Float 312 Proc 146 Range 116 … Where Strings are around 2K chars each (I assume 2KB of memory, of course that’s what I’m trying to figure out). So I am scratching my head wondering if 34MB of RAM is normal for this type of load or not. Any thoughts? -Roger ---
**Author:** ![rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rogerdpack)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 11:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/memory-use-question/115403/2 "2007-09-24T23:32:36Z")
On Sep 24, 2007, at 3:57 PM, Roger P. wrote: > VmStk: 120 kB > Proc 146 Why wouldn’t it be? If you are loading objects into memory and keeping them in use, then memory will bloat. In garbage collected languages, even though memory management is technically done for you, the way you write a program still makes it bloat or not. But if you’re wondering, most new systems sold today ship with 1gb of RAM. The OS will generally use all of it that it can use and keep some for swapping things in and out in memory. Garbage Collection is not as sophisticated as the OS’s memory management for sure! I’m not claiming to be an elite expert or anything, but the way you manage objects even with GC will still determine how big of a footprint an app tries to claim. If you’re processing lots of data, you can definitely expect a bigger load, but it all depends on how much you try to process at once and what you try to do with it. I see you’re using RegExes, and greedy RegExes can be big bloaters. But for the same reasons that simply loading an entire big text file into objects (one for each line, often) can be a big drain too. If you don’t know how big they are, or the data source is, you should be limiting it by only reading the source of data X number of bytes at a time. Maybe you already are, but if you’re not, you need to manage the flow of data in (and out) of the program. Airports can’t process all the passengers at once, so they queue them. If planes stop leaving, then people have to stop entering the terminals or it will get too crowded to function! ---
**Author:** ![rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rogerdpack)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/memory-use-question/115403/3 "2007-09-25T17:00:41Z")
John J. wrote: > On Sep 24, 2007, at 3:57 PM, Roger P. wrote: > > > VmStk: 120 kB > > Proc 146 > > Why wouldn’t it be? > Maybe you already are, but if you’re not, you need to manage the flow > of data in (and out) of the program. Yeah I think the problem is that I have the file incoming (a string), write it to disk, then read it from disk again. So lots of random strings kicking around. Maybe GC.start will help me 🙂 Thank you! -Roger ---
**Author:** ![rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rogerdpack)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/memory-use-question/115403/4 "2007-09-25T19:18:21Z")
On Sep 25, 2007, at 10:00 AM, Roger P. wrote: > > of data in (and out) of the program. > > ## Yeah I think the problem is that I have the file incoming (a string), write it to disk, then read it from disk again. So lots of random strings kicking around. Maybe GC.start will help me 🙂 Thank you! -Roger > > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). Handle the data in pieces whenever possible. Take smaller bites. It may make things slower for very very small files/ data sets, but it will be more stable over larger ones.