Roald Baudoux

My external sends list beginning with a symbol to ease the routing downstream.

So, most of my functions outputting lists look like this:

atom_setsym(mySensorData, gensym("sensorinfo"));

atom_setfloat(mySensorData + 1, sensor_info.width);

atom_setfloat(mySensorData + 2, sensor_info.height);

atom_setlong(mySensorData + 3, sensor_info.num_cols);

atom_setlong(mySensorData + 4, sensor_info.num_rows);

outlet_list(x->outlet0, NULL, 5, mySensorData);

Is it right to say that every time a list is created, the symbol generated will be kept in the RAM until Max quits? In this case, how can I generate a single, unique symbol to be used everytime this routine is called?

t_atom mySensorData[5];
atom_setsym(mySensorData, gensym("sensorinfo"));
atom_setfloat(mySensorData + 1, sensor_info.width);
atom_setfloat(mySensorData + 2, sensor_info.height);
atom_setlong(mySensorData + 3, sensor_info.num_cols);
atom_setlong(mySensorData + 4, sensor_info.num_rows);
outlet_list(x->outlet0, NULL, 5, mySensorData);

Is it right to say that every time a list is created, the  symbol generated will be kept in the RAM until Max quits? In this case, how can I generate a single, unique symbol to be used everytime this routine is called?

Hello,
My external sends list beginning with a symbol to ease the routing downstream.
So, most of my functions outputting lists look like th

does-this-way-of-dealing-with-symbols-clutter-up-the-ram-how-to-avoid-it

from what i can tell, the only symbol you are generating is the gensym("sensorinfo"). symbols only add memory when they are generated the first time. subsequent calls to gensym for a symbol that already exists will not add memory.

if you wish to add a slight optimization, you can cache that symbol in a static pointer, and call gensym in your object's init function.

from what i can tell, the only symbol you are generating is the gensym("sensorinfo"). symbols only add memory when they are generated the first time. subsequent calls to gensym for a symbol that already exists will not add memory.

if you wish to add a slight optimization, you can cache that symbol in a static pointer, and call gensym in your object's init function.

Thanks Rob. I don't think I am going optimize further at the moment.

Does this way of dealing with symbols clutter up the RAM? How to avoid it?