D. J. Bernstein writes: > Dynamic allocation _saves_ memory. > > If you've set aside a 4096-byte static buffer for a line of text that's > only 60 bytes long, for example, then you're wasting four thousand bytes > of memory. > > Do the same thing in fifty different functions, in ten running programs, > and suddenly you've wasted two megabytes of memory. Poor engineering. > Ever wonder why your system is swapping? > > It is much better to give those 2 megabytes back to the user. That's > exactly what dynamic allocation does: your program grabs only as much > memory as it needs. For the record, up to this point I am in full agreement with Mr. Bernstein. We differ in opinion on details, namely how to control the total amount of memory that a process can grab in this manner. And, I suppose, we differ in opinion on a couple other things too. But none of the differences is worth discussion. Wietse
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