From: Eric Hodel <drbrain@...7.net>
Date: 2007-09-24T11:16:03+09:00
Subject: Re: Object's allocated memory

On Sep 23, 2007, at 09:15, crb002@gmail.com wrote:

> I have an application where I need to sort objects based on their
> memory footprint. What is the easiest way to get this information
> from  Ruby1.6 ? I have no problem with having to call some C functions
> to get this info.
>
> The hack Marshal.dump(foo).size() would work, but since this might be
> called often I need an elegant solution.

Look at the mem_inspect gem.  It has hooks into the GC for Ruby 1.8.

Marshal.dump(foo).size will include all the memory an object  
references, including the object's instance variables & etc.  The  
Array ['x'*1024] takes up only a few bytes of memory, but  
Marshal.dump.size says 1032 bytes.

--
Poor workers blame their tools. Good workers build better tools. The
best workers get their tools to do the work for them. -- Syndicate Wars