Re: Memory management and custom allocator

From	Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.c
Subject	Re: Memory management and custom allocator
Date	2012-01-02 13:43 -0500
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<jdsts9$e6j$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	(4 earlier) <jdqjtf$bqd$1@reader1.panix.com> <jdsact$nr6$1@dont-email.me> <CTiMq.187959$WC5.163670@newsfe09.ams2> <jdsg2h$mkb$1@dont-email.me> <f500e5bf-edc1-43f7-9fbe-cf7bac512531@t16g2000vba.googlegroups.com>

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On 1/2/2012 11:36 AM, FtM wrote:
> [...]
> Someone previously asked me what if the allocation took no cycles at
> all. That question is obviously plain wrong, [...]

     Part of the problem is that you have not made your objectives
clear.  Kaz apparently believed you were seeking an allocator that
would consume less CPU to perform its job -- indeed, that's exactly
how I understand some of your remarks.  In that context his question
is not "plain wrong" at all, but entirely to the point: He's asking
about the upper bound on potential improvement.  If you could reduce
the allocator's time to zero -- if you could achieve an infinite
speedup -- how much overall improvement would you attain?  If you
cannot answer that question, at least with a well-grounded estimate,
you have *no* business trying to speed up the allocator, nor the sort,
nor the parser, nor the hash table, nor the frammis rebiculator.

     If you have not measured, you do not know whether you are in
trouble.  If you achieve an X% improvement, you *still* won't know
whether you are out of trouble or still in it.

> [...] I *do* like the
> allocator taking cycles if this means that, when the memory is low, my
> complex data structure resides in one single page and the system has
> not to hysterically swap from disk to deal with a pathological
> fragmentation.

     A memory manager with C's semantics, that is, one that cannot
relocate an already-allocated block, is *always* vulnerable to
fragmentation (J.M. Robson, JACM 18, 416-423).  The practical issue
is to find strategies that "usually" don't suffer from "severe"
fragmentation in "typical" cases.

> With your comment anyway you are agreeing with me: what if you could
> choose? :-)

     Sorry; I don't understand this remark.

-- 
Eric Sosman
esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid

Thread

[Slightly OT] Memory management and custom allocator FtM <fmassei@gmail.com> - 2011-12-31 06:56 -0800
  Re: [Slightly OT] Memory management and custom allocator Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2011-12-31 11:08 -0500
    Re: Memory management and custom allocator FtM <fmassei@gmail.com> - 2011-12-31 08:28 -0800
  Re: [Slightly OT] Memory management and custom allocator Johann Klammer <klammerr@NOSPAM.aon.at> - 2011-12-31 17:39 +0100
    Re: Memory management and custom allocator FtM <fmassei@gmail.com> - 2011-12-31 08:55 -0800
      Re: Memory management and custom allocator Johann Klammer <klammerr@NOSPAM.aon.at> - 2011-12-31 19:01 +0100
        Re: Memory management and custom allocator Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2011-12-31 18:31 +0000
  Re: [Slightly OT] Memory management and custom allocator Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2011-12-31 17:24 +0000
    Re: Memory management and custom allocator FtM <fmassei@gmail.com> - 2011-12-31 09:52 -0800
      Re: Memory management and custom allocator Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2011-12-31 14:30 -0500
      Re: Memory management and custom allocator Markus Wichmann <nullplan@gmx.net> - 2012-01-01 12:21 +0100
        Re: Memory management and custom allocator "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-01 12:54 +0000
          Re: Memory management and custom allocator Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-01-01 09:03 -0500
            Re: Memory management and custom allocator "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-01 16:23 +0000
            Re: Memory management and custom allocator jgk@panix.com (Joe keane) - 2012-01-01 21:41 +0000
              Re: Memory management and custom allocator Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-01-02 08:10 -0500
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-02 14:07 +0000
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-01-02 09:47 -0500
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator FtM <fmassei@gmail.com> - 2012-01-02 08:36 -0800
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-01-02 13:43 -0500
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator FtM <fmassei@gmail.com> - 2012-01-02 11:38 -0800
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator jgk@panix.com (Joe keane) - 2012-01-03 13:14 +0000
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@googlemail.com> - 2012-01-03 06:07 -0800
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@googlemail.com> - 2012-01-05 17:06 -0800
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-02 21:36 +0000
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2012-01-02 21:44 +0000
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@googlemail.com> - 2012-01-02 23:10 -0800
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-01-02 13:42 -0800
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-01-02 17:38 -0500
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator jgk@panix.com (Joe keane) - 2012-01-02 21:45 +0000
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-01-02 18:19 -0500
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-01-02 15:42 -0800
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-02 23:59 +0000
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator Kleuske <kleuske@nowhere.net> - 2012-01-03 11:38 +0000
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-03 12:49 +0000
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator jgk@panix.com (Joe keane) - 2012-01-04 23:42 +0000
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-01-04 20:23 -0500
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-05 23:31 +0200
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator jgk@panix.com (Joe keane) - 2012-01-04 21:52 +0000
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-01-04 20:31 -0500
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-05 01:45 +0000
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-07 05:55 +0200
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-07 12:02 +0000
          Re: Memory management and custom allocator Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-01-01 09:08 -0500
            Re: Memory management and custom allocator FtM <fmassei@gmail.com> - 2012-01-01 10:08 -0800
              Re: Memory management and custom allocator "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-01 23:34 +0000
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator FtM <fmassei@gmail.com> - 2012-01-02 02:18 -0800
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@googlemail.com> - 2012-01-02 02:34 -0800
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator FtM <fmassei@gmail.com> - 2012-01-02 02:43 -0800
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@googlemail.com> - 2012-01-02 03:11 -0800
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator FtM <fmassei@gmail.com> - 2012-01-02 08:17 -0800
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-02 11:40 +0000
                Re: Memory management and custom allocator FtM <fmassei@gmail.com> - 2012-01-02 08:27 -0800
          Re: Memory management and custom allocator "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-01 23:26 +0000
            Re: Memory management and custom allocator Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-01-01 23:54 +0000
              Re: Memory management and custom allocator "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-02 00:32 +0000
          Re: Memory management and custom allocator Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2012-01-02 02:46 +0000
            Re: Memory management and custom allocator "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-02 11:53 +0000
              Re: Memory management and custom allocator Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-01-02 15:18 +0000
          Re: Memory management and custom allocator jgk@panix.com (Joe keane) - 2012-01-03 12:21 +0000
          Re: Memory management and custom allocator Karl Malbrain <malbrain@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-04 16:48 -0800
            Re: Memory management and custom allocator "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-05 01:36 +0000
  Re: [Slightly OT] Memory management and custom allocator "io_x" <a@b.c.invalid> - 2012-01-01 17:02 +0100
  Re: [Slightly OT] Memory management and custom allocator jgk@panix.com (Joe keane) - 2012-01-01 21:21 +0000
  Re: [Slightly OT] Memory management and custom allocator 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@googlemail.com> - 2012-01-01 21:01 -0800
  Re: [Slightly OT] Memory management and custom allocator 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@googlemail.com> - 2012-01-07 05:20 -0800

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