Dynamic Memory Allocationppt动态内存allocationppt.pptVIP

Dynamic Memory Allocation tMyn OOP tMyn, Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences Dynamic Memory Allocation All of the code we have written up to now allocates space for data at compile time. We specify the variables and the array sizes that we need in the source code, and that’s what will be allocated when the program executes, whether we need it or not. Working with a fixed set of variables in a program can be very restrictive, and it is often wasteful. The solution is to use dynamic memory allocation, which means that you allocate the memory you need to store the data you are working with when your program executes (runtime), rather than when you compile it (compile time). Dynamically allocated variables can’t be declared at compile time, and so they can’t be named in your source program. When you allocate memory dynamically, the space that is made available by your request is identified by its address. The obvious place to store this address is in a pointer. In most instances, there is unused memory in your computer when your program is executed. In C++, this unused memory is called the free store, or sometimes the heap. You can allocate space within the free store for a new variable of a given type by using a special C++ operator that returns the address of the space allocated. This operator is new, and it is complemented by the operator delete, which de-allocates memory that you have previously allocated with new. You can allocate space in the free store for some variables in one part of a program, and then release the allocated space and return it to the free store once you have finished with the variables concerned. The memory then becomes available for reuse by other dynamically allocated variables later in the same program. When you allocate space for a variable using new, you are creating the variable in the free store. The variable continues to exist until the memory it occupies is released by the operator delete. Suppose that we need space for a variabl