(flex.info.gz) Serialized Tables

 
 22 Serialized Tables
 ********************
 
 A `flex' scanner has the ability to save the DFA tables to a file, and
 load them at runtime when needed.  The motivation for this feature is
 to reduce the runtime memory footprint.  Traditionally, these tables
 have been compiled into the scanner as C arrays, and are sometimes
 quite large.  Since the tables are compiled into the scanner, the
 memory used by the tables can never be freed.  This is a waste of
 memory, especially if an application uses several scanners, but none of
 them at the same time.
 
    The serialization feature allows the tables to be loaded at runtime,
 before scanning begins. The tables may be discarded when scanning is
 finished.
(flex.info.gz) Serialized Tables

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