Question

Let’s say I have various text/json/xml/whatever files (stored locally, in the assets directory), ranging in size from 20 – 500 KB. Assuming these files are going to be referenced frequently, throughout the application, is it better to:

A) Read the file once, the first time it’s requested, and store the data in a variable

or

B) Read the file each time it’s requested, grab the requested bit of information, and allow GC to clean up afterward?

Coming from web-dev, I generally use option (A), but I wonder if the storage limitation of mobile devices makes B preferred in this context (Android app development).

TYIA.

Answer 1

You can store your data into memory by compressing it.That it will reduce your memory footprint at any point of time.So this technique can be applicable to both PCs and mobile phones.Later on when you need the data, read and decompress it.So read the file once, then compress and store it in the memory.The following example uses GZIPOutputStream to compress a string.

public static String compress(String str){
    ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
    GZIPOutputStream gzip = new GZIPOutputStream(out);
    gzip.write(str.getBytes());
    gzip.close();
    return out.toString("ISO-8859-1");
 }