Lua variable size

[JoshBorke]

I know Iriel posted a nicely written summary on table/string memory usage on the WoW forums but I was unable to locate the post.

I'd like to know if any one has a link to the post or a copy of it.

-------- This is why I am asking

Basically I'm storing information about a unit (health/dps/hps) for the entire duration of a fight and I don't want it to eat more memory than it absolutely has to. (A combination of 2 addons, HealthHistory and CombatGraph).

I plan on using polling because it seems easier.

So far, the 2 best options to store health information I have thought of are:

-- a table holding all the health information
_hTbl = {
    [name] = {
        [1] = { health=<previous health %>, count=<# of polling cycles @ this %> },
        [2] = { health=<current health %>, count=<# of polling cycles @ this %> },
    }
}

and (the one I like)

-- table holding just the health percentage changes
_hTbl = {
    [name] {
        [1] = <percentage 1>,
        [2] = <percentage 2>,
        [3] = <percentage 1>,
    }
}
-- table holding how many data points at each percentage
_percTbl = {
    [name] = {
        [percentage 1] = {
            [1] = <# of polling cycles at this percentage>,
            [2] = <# of polling cycles at this percentage>,
         },
        [percentage 2] = {
            [1] = <# of polling cycles at this percentage>
        }
    }
}

for both of the options, i'm rounding the percentage to 3 digits to limit the number of possible values.

Right now I'm just worrying about health and will get to DPS/HPS next . Someone help me make this not eat memory more than it has to.

[Iriel]

The information from the main forum thread can be found here:

http://www.wowwiki.com/Memory_Usage

I have a more detailed analysis somewhere for some of the more complex data types (closures, functions, etc), but dont remember where I put it right away.