Strings & Memory Usage

[Greg Munt <greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk>]

Is there a common way to save the memory used up by storing strings? I'm 
sure something was said on this subject in the RGMA 'MUD Memory' thread 
(by George Reese, IIRC)

I will probably be using some sort of bytecode compilation on my mud now. 
Would this method of memory saving simply involve checking a list of 
those strings currently in memory, and either adding a new string, or 
adding a pointer to an old string? (that would probably slow down the 
process unless the storage structure was right, tho)

Thanks,
Greg.

PS On the subject of project management, I was planning on some sort of 
autocratic method, quite simply because I have experienced first-hand the 
political nightmare of a democracy (see my intro). I'll probably have 
some communication medium through which people can talk about design 
ideas, then I would decide what I wanted, and share the work out to 
numerous people. One of the goals of Frontiers is to have a code base 
which *anyone* can contribute to - thats one of the reasons i'll be using 
the copyleft. Probably a core base of serious programmers, and 
'contractors' who want to do the odd feature here and there. I do think 
it important that the programmers dont make unilateral design changes 
while coding tho - they should report design flaws, where a solution 
should either be given by me (if a simple fix), or discussed by everyone. 
The documentation of every development stage is of paramount importance - 
it sickens me how poorly documented muds and code bases are. In fact, it 
might be to blame, to a degree, on the massive proliferation of stock 
muds; mudders are hobbyists, so want some code to hack - they dont want 
to create a unique game, most arent that serious about it. 

Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

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