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> Should I write a full tutorial on an HN post how to write memory allocators when anyone can easily search for one? No, but a memory allocator is more that "s
by ahomescu1 13y ago
> Should I write a full tutorial on an HN post how to write memory allocators when anyone can easily search for one?
No, but a memory allocator is more that "simple wrappers".
My point was that OS kernels (Linux/BSDs at least) don't actually provide malloc/free as syscalls, and that you need to implement an allocator in userspace if you want these functions (even if it's a trivial allocator that wastes memory).
- pjmlp 13y agoOf course they don't, why should they?! malloc/free are part of the C language runtime, not OS syscalls. A compiler writer can build the memory allocator on top of what the OS provides as syscalls or take a shortcut and use the C runtime library instead while adding a dependency to it. I never mentioned malloc/free were syscalls.