Introduction to Programming

Lecture 24
 Today’s Agenda
 Memory Allocation
– Dynamic memory allocation
– Advantages/disadvantages of
Dynamic and static memory
allocation
– Common programming errors while
using Dynamic memory allocation
 Static Memory
Allocation
int i , j , k ;
char s [ 20 ] ;
Compile Time
Allocation
Dynamic Memory
Allocation
Heap
Pointers
 void
Pointer
int *i ;i is a pointer to an integer
char *s ;
void *ptr ;
Cast
void *ptr ;
( int * ) ptr ;
NULL
 Space in terms of
numbers of elements

calloc ( n , m ) ;
Space in terms of size
each of elements
calloc ( 1000 , sizeof ( int ) ) ;
( int * ) calloc ( 1000 , sizeof ( int ) ) ;
void * calloc ( size_t n , size_t el-size ) ;
 Example 1
int *iPtr ;
iPtr = ( int * ) calloc ( 1000 , sizeof ( int ) ) ;

if ( iPtr == NULL )
exit ( ) ;
void * malloc ( n ) ;
Number of
bytes required
malloc (1000 *sizeof ( int ) ) ) ;
malloc ( n ( sizeof ( float ) ) ) ;
 Static Memory
Allocation

#define MAXSTUDENT 100

int Student [ MAXSTUDENT ] ;
Problem statement

Find the average age of

the students in your class
int numstd ;
Example 2
int *iPtr , *sPtr ;
cout << "Enter the number of students " << endl ;
cin >> numstd ;
iPtr = malloc ( numstd * ( sizeof ( int ) ) ) ;
if ( iPtr == NULL )
{
        cout << "Error on malloc " ;
        return 1 ;
        /* Use a nonzero return to indicate an error has occurred */
}

// a while loop to read the ages of the student and place them in the
memory
sPtr = iPtr ;
sPtr++ ;
free ( iPtr ) ;
realloc(void *iPtr, size_t size);
Unreferenced
Memory
Memory
Leaks
 Example
main ( )
{
funct ( ) ;
}
funct ( )
{
int *iPtr ;
iPtr = malloc ( 1000 * ( sizeof ( int ) ) ) ;
// used the memory
}
Dangling
Pointers
 Example
int *ptr1 , *ptr2 ;
ptr1 = malloc (1000 * ( sizeof ( int ) ) ) ;
ptr2 = ptr1 ;
---
free ( ptr1 ) ;
Multi-tasking
 Review
 Dynamic Memory Allocation
– Efficient usage of computers
resources
– Have to do memory
management