Troubleshooting Memory

How do I view how much memory I have available when debugging the Netduino Plus 2 ?  I added Debug.EnableGCMessages(true) thinking this would show me the memory situation in the output window.  Do I need to use Debug.GC(true) as well ?  If so, what is the recommended practice as far as where to place the Debug.GC.  Do I place it before a potential problem routine starts or should it be the first line of the routine ?

true forces the GC to run and release memory.

You want Debug.Print(Debug.GC(false).ToSting());

For the Netduino Plus 2, at what value should I start worrying that my code is inefficient ?

Hi bgreer5050,

What kind of metric/test are you looking for, regarding efficiency? Generally speaking, using extra RAM doesn't hurt your project--unless you need it for something else. It's going to be filled with "empty data" and consume power if you don't use the RAM.

BTW, if you're building something which needs to run for very long periods of time and handles lots of data, we generally recommend pre-allocating RAM using class-scoped variables. That way memory is only allocated from the remaining heap--and the GC is only activated--for things which need temporary memory allocation.

Chris

Thanks Chris.  I will take your advice into account and pre-allocate.