[erlang-questions] Maximising memory compactness

[Kostis Sagonas]

On 04/04/2014 10:33 AM, Olivier BOUDEVILLE wrote:
> Let's suppose one would like to run a large, distributed (Erlang)
> application, with many processes, and that ends up, in some cases, being
> RAM-bound.
 > ...
> The half-word emulator would seem the simplest/most elegant solution to
> do so ....
 >
> So, my question: would relying on a set of 32-bit VMs per host,
> instead of a single 64-bit VM, look like the best option here?

My opinion is (and has always been) that the half-word emulator seems 
cute on the surface but deep down is a bad idea (esp. for a language 
with automatic memory management like Erlang, or if your application has 
any plans of growing someday).

So I would really advice against it. In fact, IMO it's better to try to 
forget about its existence for anything other than for small embedded 
devices or in machines that do not have more than 3GB of memory.

Unfortunately, I am very busy to elaborate more on this right now. But 
even if I had more time, I would probably try to find better things to 
do than think/talk about the half-word emulator. Leaning back and relax 
until you forget about it (or simply waiting for the day that it is 
taken out of the distribution) is preferable IMO.

Kostis