Holier Than Thou

Bulldozer00's Blog

Since C++(by deliberate design) does not include a native garbage collector or memory compactor, programs that perform dynamic memory allocation and de-allocation (via explicit or implicit use of the “new” and “delete” operators) cause small “holes” to accumulate in the free store over time. I guess you can say that C++ is “holier than thou“. 😦

Stroustrup Mem Holes

Mind you, drilling holes in the free store is not the same as leaking memory. A memory leak is a programming bug that needs to be squashed. A fragmented free store is a “feature“.

His holiness can become an issue only for loooong running C++ programs and/or programs that run on hardware with small RAM footprints. For those types of niche systems, the best, and perhaps only, practical options available for preventing any holes from accumulating in your briefs are to eliminate all delete

View original post 484 more words