Question

I am a flex programmer but i had nothing to do for handle manage memory in my projects. I think lack of memory management is reason for loading lag of swf file. Can any one help me to how to handle manage memory in flex/ as3 codes.

Answer 1

One of the most problematic uses of memory is not removing event listeners when you don’t need them anymore.

For instance

button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, doSomething);

When you’re done with that button, remove the event listener so the owner of “doSomething” can be garbage collected. When you add an event listener to button, the owner of “doSomething”‘s reference count is +1’ed. Everytime you remove an event listener you -1 that reference count. To be garbage collected, the reference count has to be zero’d.

You can let the flash player do this for you (in most cases) by using weak-referenced event listeners, like so:

button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, doSomething, false, 0, true);

Here are some more tips to help your memory management: http://blog.skinkers.com/2010/10/08/memory-management-in-air-as3-flash-garbage-collection/

And if you want to learn about the garbage collector in detail, here’s a fantastic resource: http://jpauclair.net/2009/12/23/tamarin-part-iii-current-garbage-collector-in-flash-10-0/