Understanding and Resolving Memory Issues in Elixir on the BEAM

In this talk, Anton Frolov delves into the intricacies of memory management in Elixir on the BEAM virtual machine. He starts by discussing the unique aspects of BEAM's memory model, including garbage collection and memory allocation techniques. Anton emphasizes that while Elixir generally manages memory efficiently, specific scenarios can lead to unexpected memory usage, making debugging crucial. Through real-world examples from his work at Chy, he illustrates how to identify and resolve memory issues, touching on process heap, ETS table memory, and the implications of message passing between processes. Anton also shares tools and strategies for monitoring and optimizing memory, such as using Observer and Observer CLI to inspect memory usage and garbage collection behavior. He further explains the concepts of heap sharing, memory leaks, and the impact of garbage collector strategies, providing actionable insights to help Elixir developers maintain efficient and robust applications.