Messages in this thread |  | | Date | Mon, 10 Feb 1997 19:14:51 -0500 | From | "David S. Miller" <> | Subject | Re: Big malloc's. |
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Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 13:44:51 +0200 (SAT) From: John Carter <john@dwaf-hri.pwv.gov.za>
Suppose I want to move through a _lot_ of data quickly. A really big file (up to several times the size of memory+swap). Typically I malloc() a BIG array, read() the file into that array and off I go. If the array is too big, I start swapping like mad. Slow.
Thus its better if I chop it into buffers. The question is, how big a buffer. The smaller the buffer, the more read()'s and the more fiddling with buffer boundary conditions I do. Too big a buffer and I start swapping.
Why not use mmap?
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