Understanding and Using C Pointers

Chapter 2. Dynamic Memory Management in C

Much of the power of pointers stems from their ability to track dynamically allocated memory. The management of this memory through pointers forms the basis for many operations, including those used to manipulate complex data structures. To be able to fully exploit these capabilities, we need to understand how dynamic memory management occurs in C.

A C program executes within a runtime system. This is typically the environment provided by an operating system. The runtime system supports the stack and heap along with other program behavior.

Memory management is central to all programs. Sometimes memory is managed by the runtime system implicitly, such as when memory is allocated for automatic variables. In this case, variables are allocated to the enclosing function’s stack frame. In the case of static and global variables, memory is placed in the application’s data segment, where it is zeroed out. This is a separate area from executable code and other data managed by the runtime system.

The ability to allocate and then deallocate memory allows an application to manage its memory more efficiently and with greater flexibility. Instead of having to allocate memory to accommodate the largest possible size for a data structure, only the actual amount required needs to be allocated.

For example, arrays are fixed size in versions of C prior to C99. If we need to hold a variable number of elements, such as employee records, we would be forced to declare ...