Stuck on Android performance optimization, causes of freezes and optimization solutions

With the rapid development of the mobile Internet, the performance optimization of Android applications has become particularly important. Caton is one of the most common problems in user experience. It will cause the application to respond slowly, the interface is not smooth, and even affect the user experience. Therefore, we need to deeply understand the cause of the freeze problem and find corresponding solutions to improve the performance of the application.

The main cause of Caton

Caton problems can be caused by many reasons, this chapter will focus on the following main reasons:

• UI thread blocking: When the UI thread is blocked by time-consuming operations, the responsiveness of the application will be affected, resulting in lag. Common blocking operations include time-consuming calculations, IO operations, and network requests.
• Memory leaks: Failure to release useless objects and resources in time will lead to memory leaks, which will eventually lead to memory overflow and application freezes. Common memory leaks include unclosed database connections, unreleased Bitmap objects, etc.
• Improper image loading: Large image loading, frequent image loading, and unreleased image resources will take up a lot of memory and bandwidth, causing the application to freeze.
• Improper data processing: When processing a large amount of data, not using appropriate data structures and algorithms, or placing time-consuming data processing operations in the main thread, will cause the application to freeze.
• Unreasonable network requests: When the network request takes too long, it will block the UI thread, causing the application to respond slowly or even freeze.

Solution to Caton

Aiming at the above main causes of lagging, this chapter will provide a solution to the lagging problem and analyze it with code examples.

Solutions for UI thread blocking:

• Put time-consuming operations in sub-threads to avoid blocking the UI thread. You can use Handler or AsyncTask to update the UI in the child thread. - Use the Handler's postDelayed() method to delay the UI update operation, reduce the UI refresh frequency, and improve the fluency of the interface.

Sample code:

new Thread(new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        // 执行耗时操作        // ...
​
        // 使用Handler将结果发送到UI线程更新UI        mHandler.post(new Runnable() {
            @Override            public void run() {
                // 更新UI
                // ...
            }
        });
    }
}).start();

Solution for memory leak:

• For objects holding Context, use weak references or static weak references to avoid memory leaks. - Make sure to release objects and resources in time when they are no longer in use, such as closing database connections, releasing Bitmap objects, etc.

Sample code:

private static WeakReference<Context> sContextRef;
​
public static void setContext(Context context) {
    sContextRef = new WeakReference<>(context);
}
​
public static Context getContext() {
    return sContextRef.get();
}
​
// 在不再使用的时候及时释放对象和资源
public void releaseResources() {
    if (mDatabase != null) {
        mDatabase.close();
    }
    if (mBitmap != null) {
        mBitmap.recycle();
    }
}

Solutions for improper image loading:

• Use image loading libraries (such as Glide, Picasso) to load images, they can automatically perform image compression and memory caching, reducing memory usage and loading time. - For large images, use BitmapFactory.Options for image compression. - Timely release unused image resources to avoid taking up too much memory.

Sample code:

Glide.with(context)
    .load(imageUrl)
    .into(imageView);

Solutions for improper data handling:

• Use appropriate data structures and algorithms to process large amounts of data and avoid time-consuming traversal operations. - Place time-consuming data processing operations in sub-threads to avoid blocking the UI thread.

Sample code:

    @Override    public void run() {
        // 处理大量数据
        // ...
    }
}).start();

Solutions for unreasonable network requests:

• Use the asynchronous request method to place network requests in sub-threads to avoid blocking the UI thread. It can be achieved by using the asynchronous request method of OkHttp. - Set an appropriate timeout mechanism to avoid interface freeze caused by long network request time.

Sample code:

​
​
connectTimeout(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
  .readTimeout(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
  .writeTimeout(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
  .build();
​
Request request = new Request.Builder()
  .url(url)
  .build();
​
client.newCall(request).enqueue(new Callback() {
  @Override public void onFailure(Call call, IOException e) {
    // 处理请求失败 }
​
@Override public void onResponse(Call call, Response response) throws IOException {
    // 处理请求成功
  }
});
​
​

This article mainly analyzes the performance optimization part of Android development. For more about Android core optimization technology, you can refer to "Android Core Performance Optimization Manual" to view more detailed optimization categories.

Summarize

Caton problem is a common performance optimization problem in Android development. This article provides a solution to the Caton problem in terms of UI thread blocking, memory leaks, image loading, data processing, and network requests. By analyzing the reasons, selecting corresponding optimization strategies, and gradually optimizing according to certain optimization steps, application performance and user experience can be significantly improved. Developers should pay attention to performance optimization during the development process, continue to pay attention to the performance of the application, and take corresponding optimization measures in time to ensure the smooth operation of the application.