How do you do dynamic memory allocation in C applications? List advantages and disadvantages of dynamic memory allocation vs. static memory allocation.

How do you do dynamic memory allocation in C applications? List advantages and disadvantages of dynamic memory allocation vs. static memory allocation.

Answer:


In C, malloc, calloc and realloc are used to allocate memory dynamically. In C++, new(), is usually used to allocate objects. Some advantages and disadvantages of dynamic memory allocation are:

Advantages:

• Memory is allocated on an as-needed basis. This helps remove the inefficiencies inherent to static memory allocation (when the amount of memory needed is not known at compile time and one has to make a guess).

Disadvantages:

• Dynamic memory allocation is slower than static memory allocation. This is because dynamic memory allocation happens in the heap area.
• Dynamic memory needs to be carefully deleted after use. They are created in non-contiguous area of memory segment.
• Dynamic memory allocation causes contention between threads, so it degrades performance when it happens in a thread.
• Memory fragmentation.