Chromium: Substring of String Retains String in Memory
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Memory Management
Chromium
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A Chromium issue is discussed where a substring operation inadvertently retains the entire original string in memory, potentially causing memory inefficiencies, and commenters explore the implications and potential fixes.
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I assume the underlying storage isn't reference counted, because if it was it seems it would be trivial to detect there's only a single reference left, and trigger a reallocation.
[1]: https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/FloatingPointMath
Unless the underlying storage is reference counted with some small granularity. That might be a way to go, when a substring is taken, split the original and keep track of the pieces separately.