How do I reduce application memory size?

Hey folks,

I'm trying to add support for Instinct to the meditate app. It builds fine with the latest 4.1.1 SDK but crashes immediately with OOM (out of memory) when launching against a simulator.

Launching it against a different target (Fenix6) indicates that the app peaks at 106kb which is somewhat more than 92kb that are available on instinct2 (as far as I understand).

How would you go about reducing the memory foot print?

I naively thought that removing resources would be the first step but it doesn't appear to work:

The original prg size 254kb, see below:

-rw-r--r-- 1 dmitry staff 254780 31 Mar 15:38 Meditate.prg

After I remove a bunch of images totalling 16kb:

-rw-r--r-- 1 dmitry staff 4126 31 Mar 15:38 ./resources/fonts/fontAwesome/fontAwesomeFreeRegular_0.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 dmitry staff 7314 31 Mar 15:38 ./resources/fonts/fontAwesome/fontAwesomeFreeSolid_0.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 dmitry staff 3511 31 Mar 14:06 ./resources/fonts/meditateIcons/meditateIcons.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 dmitry staff 1207 31 Mar 14:06 ./resources/fonts/meditateIcons/yoga.png

The prg size is reduced by 5kb only:


-rw-r--r-- 1 dmitry staff 249852 31 Mar 15:41 Meditate.prg

I then remove fonts (~12kb):

-rw-r--r-- 1 dmitry staff 1649 31 Mar 13:43 ./Meditate/resources/fonts/roboto/roboto46Bold.fnt
-rw-r--r-- 1 dmitry staff 2490 31 Mar 15:38 ./StatusIconFonts/resources/fonts/fontAwesome/fontAwesomeFreeRegular.fnt
-rw-r--r-- 1 dmitry staff 5678 31 Mar 15:38 ./StatusIconFonts/resources/fonts/fontAwesome/fontAwesomeFreeSolid.fnt
-rw-r--r-- 1 dmitry staff 1199 31 Mar 14:06 ./StatusIconFonts/resources/fonts/meditateIcons/meditateIcons.fnt

and the prg only drops 2kb:


-rw-r--r-- 1 dmitry staff 247532 31 Mar 15:44 Meditate.prg

Now, when I launch the app in the sim, it's at 96kb. And crushes immediately I'm assuming because I hacked away a bunch of resources.

Anyway TLDR:

1. App at peak is 106kb

2. I remove 28kb worth of stuff.

3. App at peak is 96kb now.

How would you suggest I go about reducing the app size so it works on Instincts?

Top Replies

flocsy🤠 over 3 years ago +1

https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/f/discussion/6000/preserving-memory-in-monkey-c

But I doubt it'll be enough. What you'll be able to achieve is maybe 1k, and from the numbers you posted looks…
_psx_ over 3 years ago +1

I think instruct has 60/62kB... so long way. how your app run for f6s - max 92kb?

size of prg says nothing unless you want to load into memory all resources from prg
_psx_ over 3 years ago in reply to 6629252 +1

in my windows shows (run app for proper device first)

-f6s

-f6pro

-f6x

so probably you have shown for f6X

- 53kb - code this your MonkeyC code - quite big code

-- remove dictionary, multiarrays and…

All Replies

0 flocsy🤠 over 3 years ago

https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/f/discussion/6000/preserving-memory-in-monkey-c

But I doubt it'll be enough. What you'll be able to achieve is maybe 1k, and from the numbers you posted looks like you have a bigger problem.

0 _psx_ over 3 years ago

I think instruct has 60/62kB... so long way. how your app run for f6s - max 92kb?

size of prg says nothing unless you want to load into memory all resources from prg

0 6629252 over 3 years ago in reply to _psx_

The simulator shows 124kb available for Fenix 6s. Am I looking at it right?

Started like so:

monkeydo Meditate.prg fenix6s

0 6629252 over 3 years ago in reply to flocsy🤠

Thanks for the link, it's interesting to read about potential optimizations but I think i'm missing something... looking at memory profiler, I think I missed the size readouts. Am I reading this right, code is nearly 54k and data is 32k?

Are resources not data? Would reducing the resource size reduce the data segment?

0 _psx_ over 3 years ago in reply to 6629252

in my windows shows (run app for proper device first)

-f6s

-f6pro

-f6x

so probably you have shown for f6X

- 53kb - code this your MonkeyC code - quite big code

-- remove dictionary, multiarrays and case statement first

-32k data - "static data" a lot of vars, const, initialison - put some data in resource/prg and load it when you need

expand tree to see memory for each item

0 6629252 over 3 years ago in reply to _psx_

Thanks for your advice.

This is not my app. I wanted to port https://github.com/vtrifonov-esfiddle/Meditate to Instinct2, but it's proving harder than anticipated. I don't understand the structure of the application so I guess I'm going to have to dive into it a little bit more to see what I can eliminate.

0 _psx_ over 3 years ago in reply to 6629252

I'm not sure if you save half of current memory but if you rewrite all your beautiful code (yes, writing nice code for garmin it is killing for the memory)

Few clues:

- remove dictionary and multiarryas (you have detaiILines dictionary almost 14kb)

- remove custom font (e.g roboto - they are in system) check
https://developer.garmin.com/connect-iq/reference-guides/devices-reference/#devicereference

and use system fonts

- reduce size of icons

- use filter font if you use custom font so system only load that you need it

- app callback 16kb - I don't know what is this

- and code

-- decrease number of classes, modules etc

-- remove unnecessary function

sorry your code it's a bit "freaky" but you can save a lot of mmeory using few globals (e.g seession if it' only one), delete get/set and make public members

all highlighted lines (and others, but remember that the same values can be in many places) require attention

0 jim_m_58 over 3 years ago in reply to 6629252

Have you contacted the person that posted this app to github? They may have an instinct2 version in the works or can point you are what to do with your own port.

0 6629252 over 3 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

There hasn't been any activity in the repo for over a year.. I figured I'd add instinct2 and make a PR.

0 jim_m_58 over 3 years ago in reply to 6629252

I have apps I've not updated in well over a year that I still support. Contacting the person that posted it doesn't hurt,