[platform-core-dev] Re: New platform NLS support

[John Arthorne <John_Arthorne@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Several people have asked questions
about this already.  Here are a few general answers to avoid some
duplicate discussion:

Q: It uses reflection... does this
make it slower?

A: No.  We profiled bundle loading
on VMs from several vendors and the new API loads bundles from 5% to 45%
faster, depending on the VM and operating system.  While improving
load speed was not the main goal, the new mechanism is faster. 

Q: It sounds like a lot of work...
is it really worth it?

A: Yes.  High memory usage is an
Eclipse bug and it is worth investing time to fix it.  With the conversion
tool a plug-in can be converted to the new format in about 20 minutes.

Q: Can't we get similar gains by
using shorter message keys and removing unused messages?

A: These techniques are still available
with the new NLS support.  You can convert to the new mechanism *and*
shorten your message keys to achieve further memory space reductions.  Finding
unused messages is now a simple Java reference search on the field for
the key.

John Arthorne/Ottawa/IBM

22/02/2005 03:22 PM

To	platform-core-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx, eclipse-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
cc
Subject	New platform NLS support

Eclipse 3.1 M5 has introduced a new
resource bundle mechanism that is significantly more efficient than the
standard Java property resource bundle mechanism.  This new mechanism
stores each messages as a static field whose value is bound at runtime
based on the current locale.  The result is that message keys are
no longer stored in memory as strings, and the overhead of the Hashtable
used by property resource bundle is eliminated.  More details on the
new API, along with analysis of its performance and a conversion tool for
those using property resource bundles, is found here:

http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/%7Echeckout%7E/platform-core-home/documents/3.1/message_bundles.html

Questions on this new API are welcome
on the platform-core-dev mailing list.