For the browser issue your anger should be directed entirely at LessWrong[1]. Browsers are one of the few types of software which are still hyper-optimized, but there’s only so much you can do when people decide to render a complex application client-side using 6 MB of JavaScript:
Inactive tabs use memory because the alternative is losing your state when you switch tabs and having visible lag and reseting the state when you switch back. It’s possible browser makers are taking the wrong tradeoff and users don’t want tabs to remain in memory, but they’re not being inefficient, they’re optimizing for UX over memory.
Similarly, Electron is highly optimized for what it is; there’s just limits to how efficient you can make a browser while still presenting a fully standards-compliant JavaScript and DOM implementation. Also Electron can’t stop people from writing inefficient JavaScript.
Assuming you think the LessWrong team should stop doing some of the other things they’re doing and optimize performance instead. I disagree but this is a value judgement.
For the browser issue your anger should be directed entirely at LessWrong[1]. Browsers are one of the few types of software which are still hyper-optimized, but there’s only so much you can do when people decide to render a complex application client-side using 6 MB of JavaScript:
Inactive tabs use memory because the alternative is losing your state when you switch tabs and having visible lag and reseting the state when you switch back. It’s possible browser makers are taking the wrong tradeoff and users don’t want tabs to remain in memory, but they’re not being inefficient, they’re optimizing for UX over memory.
Similarly, Electron is highly optimized for what it is; there’s just limits to how efficient you can make a browser while still presenting a fully standards-compliant JavaScript and DOM implementation. Also Electron can’t stop people from writing inefficient JavaScript.
Assuming you think the LessWrong team should stop doing some of the other things they’re doing and optimize performance instead. I disagree but this is a value judgement.