By default, a module, event, dialog box template, or picture from vslick.sta (UNIX: vslick.stu) is not loaded until it is referenced. Using the definit primitive forces a module to be loaded when the editor is invoked. The default state file cache is about 200 K. You can set this size with the -st invocation option or with the Virtual Memory option screen (Window → SlickEdit Preferences → Application Options → Virtual Memory). When the state file cache becomes full, the least recently used module, dialog box template, event table, or picture is removed from memory to reduce the cache size.

You might have critical modules that you want permanently stored in memory. Place the no_code_swapping keyword at the top of the module to force the module to be loaded and permanently stored in memory on startup; then, if a critical disk failure occurs while reading the state file, the product is protected. A few modules that provide basic editing capabilities remain permanently in memory.