C++ Style Guide - Memory Allocation

Memory Allocation

Rule 50: Do not use malloc, realloc or free.
Rule 51: Always provide empty brackets (''[]'') for delete when deallocating arrays.

Rec. 57: Avoid global data if at all possible.
Rec. 58: Do not allocate memory and expect that someone else will deallocate it later.
Rec. 59: Always assign a new value to a pointer that points to deallocated memory.

In C++ data can be allocated statically, dynamically on the stack, or dynamically on the heap. There are three categories of static data: global data, global class data, and static data local to a function.

In C malloc, realloc and free are used to allocate memory dynamically on the heap. This may lead to conflicts with the use of the new and delete operators in C++.

It is dangerous to:

1 invoke delete for a pointer obtained via malloc/realloc,
2 invoke malloc/realloc for objects having constructors,
3 invoke free for anything allocated using new.

Thus, avoid whenever possible the use of malloc, realloc and free.

If an array a having a type T is allocated, it is important to invoke delete in the correct way. Only writing delete a; will result in the destructor being invoked only for the first object of type T. By writing delete [m] a; where m is an integer which is greater than the number of objects allocated earlier, the destructor for T will be invoked for memory that does not represent objects of type T. The easiest way to do this correctly is to write delete [] a; since the destructor will then be invoked only for those objects which have been allocated earlier.

Static data can cause several problems. In an environment where parallel threads execute simultaneously, they can make the behaviour of code unpredictable, since functions having static data are not reentrant.

One difference between ANSI-C and C++ is in how constants are declared. If a variable is declared as a constant in ANSI-C, it has the storage class extern (global). In C++, however, it normally has the storage class static (local). The latter means that a new instance of the constant object is created each time a file includes the file which contains the declaration of the object, unless the variable is explicitly declared extern in the include file.

An extern declaration in C++ does not mean that the variable is initialized; there must be a definition for this in a definition file. Static constants that are defined within a class are always external and must always be defined separately. "

It may, at times, be tempting to allocate memory for an object using new, expecting someone else to deallocate the memory. For instance, a function can allocate memory for an object which is then returned to the user as the return value for the function. There is no guarantee that the user will remember to deallocate the memory and the interface with the function then becomes considerably more complex.

Pointers that point to deallocated memory should either be set to 0 or be given a new value to prevent access to the released memory. This can be a very difficult problem to solve when there are several pointers which point to the same memory, since C++ has no garbage collection.

Exception to Rule 50:: No exceptions.
Exception to Rule 51:: No exceptions.

Example 64 Right and wrong ways to invoke delete for arrays with destructors

int n = 7 
T* myT = new T[n]  // T is a type with defined constructors and destructors 
// ... 
delete myT         // No! Destructor only called for first object in array a 
delete [10] myT    // No! Destructor called on memory out of bounds in array a 
delete [] myT      // OK, and always safe!

Example 65 Dangerous memory management

String myFunc( const char* myArgument ) 
{ 
    String* temp = new String( myArgument ) 
    return *temp 
    // temp is never deallocated and the user of myFunc cannot deallocate 
    // because a temporary copy of that instance is returned. 
}