WebREPL freezes when pasting large code block

[snake77]

I wanted to paste 194 lines of code with the WebREPL but it just freezes my ESP8266. Smaller code blocks with fewer lines work fine. (I haven't tested how much is too much.)

Is that expected behavior?

[Roberthh]

The heap of the ESP8266 is rather small. A single source module of 194 lines could be too much. You may have to split that in into smaller pieces. Better upload pre-compiled code using the file transfer method.

[snake77]

The heap of the ESP8266 is rather small. A single source module of 194 lines could be too much. You may have to split that in into smaller pieces. Better upload pre-compiled code using the file transfer method.

Thanks for the reply. :) However, splitting it up seems tedious. And using the file transfer method is going to write it to file and use up flash cycles, right? Because I'm still changing a lot and would be uploading different version after different version. Hmm...

[kevinkk525]

I wouldn't worry about flash cycles on an esp8266 (and not just because they are dirt cheap). During my development I often end up uploading the whole firmware 20 times a day. For every change I make, I compile and flash a new firmware (which is ~700kB). And none of my devices have had any problems yet.
So I really wouldn't worry about uploading a new file for every change you make (at least not when using littleFS. Don't use fat)

[snake77]

So I really wouldn't worry about uploading a new file for every change you make

Hmm okay. However, I think it would still be more comfortable to be able to paste via WebREPL. 🙈

The heap of the ESP8266 is rather small. A single source module of 194 lines could be too much.

Just tried it via the REPL on the serial console and it works fine there. Does that make a difference regarding the heap?

[Roberthh]

I expect that webrepl uses memory from the heap. You can check with:

import gc
gc.collect()
gc.mem_free()

from both REPL and WebREPL.
Sometimes it helps doing a import gc;gc.collect() before loading.

[kevinkk525]

Might also be due to socket operations in webrepl making it slower, more complex and more resource hungry?