I've been a programmer for about 15 years, mainly focusing on backend and infrastructure work with Python and Go. Recently, I've started deploying some Java-based services, and I've noticed that these services consume significantly more memory—often between 10x and 100x compared to Go applications. Even when idle with no load, a Java service seems to consume around 1GB of memory, while my Go services sit at about 10MB. Considering I usually build complex enterprise systems for a small user base (a thousand or fewer), it's hard to rationalize the resource requirements for Java services. I'm completely new to the JVM world, so I'm curious if there are ways to configure it, like adjusting memory settings with `-Xms`, to help reduce Java's memory consumption to be more in line with Go. What are your thoughts, especially regarding JVM settings that could help?
1 Answer
There are definitely ways to tweak Java's memory usage. One big factor is the JVM's configuration; by adjusting the `-Xms` setting, you can set a lower minimum heap size. Java tends to reserve memory even if it's not being used, which can lead to high idle memory usage, especially in lightweight applications.
What about the garbage collector? Does it play a role in this?