1148822 - memory graph should illustrate growth better

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(DevTools :: Performance Tools (Profiler/Timeline), defect)

Description

[Jordan Santell [:jsantell] [@jsantell]]

Attachment: memory double

It seems that the memory graph always looks "full"; the y axis is plotted from 0 to the memory high point, which does not highlight useful information. In this image, memory doubles from 2mb to 4mb, yet the graph is just a steady incline, when it should be more jarring. If I had a complex web app that goes from 300mb to 350mb, since the y-axis is 0 bound, it again would be a small slope.

If we render from the min to the max memory points, I think it'd illustrate growth and mem problems more clearly.

Comment 1

[Jordan Santell [:jsantell] [@jsantell]]

Attachment: chrome memory

For example, in Chrome, this memory usage graph is min 7mb, max 10mb, with a steeper incline. Looks like the bottom point of their y-axis is slightly lower than the min point.

Comment 2

[Victor Porof [:vporof][:vp]]

Because we poll very infrequently.

Comment 3

[Victor Porof [:vporof][:vp]]

Couple of things we could do here:
1. have graph's lower bound be min memory (as you suggested in comment 0)
2. don't plot values linearly; squaring or cubing could show more dramatic slopes
3. plot allocation pressure (along with or instead of) of memory usage

Comment 4

[Jordan Santell [:jsantell] [@jsantell]]

Would be interested in seeing allocation pressure (I believe fitzgen had this in his memory panel mockup). Should be easy enough to prototype

Another thing that would help, I think, is tweaking the design/colors -- it's kind of crushed between two other graphs and it's difficult (for me) to contextualize the growth as all the timeline graphs blend together

Comment 5

[Jordan Santell [:jsantell] [@jsantell]]

Created bug 1148836 for allocations view for future discussion (screenshot, patch)

Comment 6

[Panos Astithas (he/him) [:past] (please ni?)]

(In reply to Victor Porof [:vporof][:vp] from comment #3)
> 2. don't plot values linearly; squaring or cubing could show more dramatic
> slopes

I think that way you lose 90% of your audience. In my experience few people can understand non-linear plots without spending some effort to comprehend it. Linear graphs on the other hand are more natural to most people.

Comment 7

[Jordan Santell [:jsantell] [@jsantell]]

Since the styling changes, I'm happier with this. Closing, please reopen if you think this needs to be changed.