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Lecture 04 Dynamic Memory Allocation

The document provides an overview of C++ focusing on pointers, arrays, and dynamic memory allocation. It explains the relationship between pointers and arrays, pointer arithmetic, and the use of the 'new' and 'delete' commands for dynamic memory management. Additionally, it discusses memory leaks and their implications in C++ programming.

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ranahassanirfan2005
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3 views

Lecture 04 Dynamic Memory Allocation

The document provides an overview of C++ focusing on pointers, arrays, and dynamic memory allocation. It explains the relationship between pointers and arrays, pointer arithmetic, and the use of the 'new' and 'delete' commands for dynamic memory management. Additionally, it discusses memory leaks and their implications in C++ programming.

Uploaded by

ranahassanirfan2005
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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C++ Overview

CS 250 Data Structures and Algorithms


Prof. Dr. Faisal Shafait

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Pointers and Arrays

Pointers and arrays are closely related.

1 char amessage [] = "hello"; // array


2 char * pmessage = "hello"; // pointer

Construction of the arrays of pointers is also allowed.


use of arrays of pointers is to store character strings of variable
lengths.

char * months [] = { "Illegal month", "Jan", "Feb", "Mar" };

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Pointer arithmetic

For any pointer T *p; the following holds:


p[n] is the same as *(p+n);
adding and integer n to a pointer increments it by the n times the
size of the type – and not by n bytes

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Pointer arithmetic

For any pointer T *p; the following holds:


Increment ++ and decrement −− increase/decrease by one
element

Be sure to only use valid pointers


initialize them
do not use them after the object has been deleted!
catastrophic errors otherwise
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Dynamic memory allocation


When one defines a variable in C++,
the compiler allocates memory for that variable automatically
when the program begins running.
data structure declared this way is called a static structure.
it never changes size for the duration of the run of the program.
Consider,

1 float x[10]; // allocates memory for 10 numbers

Allocation of flexible size,

1 unsigned int n;
2 std::cin >> n;
3 float x[n]; // will not work

The compiler has to know the number!


Solution: dynamic allocation
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Dynamic memory allocation: new command

When you want to allocate memory while the program is running,


it is done using dynamic memory allocation.
a structure created this way is called a dynamic structure.
In C++, dynamic memory allocation is done using the new command.
takes a type as an argument
allocates enough memory to hold a variable of that type.
and, returns the address of the newly allocated memory.
The returned address should then be stored in a pointer.

MyTypePtr = new MyType;

MyType is some type (int, float, a structure or a class), and MyTypePtr is


a pointer to a MyType.

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Dynamic memory allocation: new command

Examples:
dynamically allocates memory for a single int, and stores the
address in intPtr.

1 int * intPtr;
2 intPtr = new int;

dynamically allocates memory for a single int, initializes it to the


value 6, and stores the address in intPtr.

1 int * intPtr;
2 intPtr = new int (6);

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Dynamic memory allocation: arrays

To dynamically allocate an array, specify the array size in square


brackets [] after the type:

1 float * x = new float[n]; // allocate some memory for an array


2 x[0] = 3.0f; // do some work with the array x
3 ...

To delete a dynamically allocated array, you must include a pair of


empty square brackets,

1 delete [] x; // delete the memory for the array.


2 // x[i], * x now undefined!

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Dynamic memory allocation: delete command

To deallocate memory which has been allocated dynamically, use the


delete command:

1 delete intPtr; // Deallocates memory pointed to by


2 // intPtr.

delete command does NOT delete the variable intPtr itself,


it deallocates the memory whose address is stored in intPtr.
and, makes it available for future allocation

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Memory leaks

A memory leak occurs when a computer program incorrectly manages


memory allocations.
Illegal memory accesses (segmentation faults)
Stack overflow
Infinite recursions
Double frees
Dangerous use of uninitialized variables

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Memory leaks

Since memory is user managed, there can be mistakes.


Memory leaks = allocated memory that’s not freed.
Why it matters?

1 #include <stdlib.h>
2
3 int main ()
4 {
5 char * x = (char * ) malloc (100); // Memory Leak!
6
7 return 0;
8 }

Allocation profilers: valgrind (linux), _CrtDumpMemoryLeaks (Visual


Studio).

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Reading Material

For further reading, please refer to


Data Structures by Weiss: Overview of Chapter 1 & 2

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