[webkit-dev] setTimeout as browser speed throttle

[Linus Upson]

We can use the histogram facility in chrome to collect data from a dev
channel release. It should only take a few weeks to get good data.
What exactly do we want to measure to settle on a value?

Linus


On Wed, Oct 1, 2008 at 2:34 AM, Maciej Stachowiak <mjs at apple.com> wrote:
>
> On Oct 1, 2008, at 1:24 AM, David Hyatt wrote:
>
> On Oct 1, 2008, at 2:52 AM, Darin Fisher wrote:
>
>
> I can appreciate that you aren't interested in revisiting this problem after
> having resolved it finally by adding the clamp.  I believe you when you say
> you had compelling evidence too.
>
>
> We are interested in revisiting the problem or we wouldn't be suggesting a
> new high resolution timer API.
>
> I'm with Hyatt. The reason we are having this thread is precisely to revisit
> the problem.
>
> I don't know how clear I was in the previous email, but basically it can
> take a lot of time before you see problems.  What happens is a site makes a
> change, screws up and puts in an unintentional setTimeout loop, and then
> they pwn the CPU of a browser with no clamp.  They don't discover it because
> every browser has a pretty high clamp.  When we had these issues, they'd
> basically crop up one site at a time every so often.  The good news is that
> usually the sites would fix the problems, but the bad news is it could take
> a while, and angry users would be switching to Firefox.
>
> That is what I was alluding to when I said it took us 3.5 years to first
> realize we had to add the clamp. The problems come and go, but they are
> consistently a problem, and it can take a while to realize it.
> However, the bug Mike cited seems to mention problems with the 1ms limit on
> some real sites:
> <http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=792>. At least 5 sites
> are mentioned, including nytimes.
> I think we are converging on some good solutions (somewhat lower basic
> clamp, new highres API) and I regret if this thread has felt hostile to
> anyone.
> Regards,
> Maciej
>
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