Malloc and calloc function, Operating System

Assignment Help:

Note that the parameter for scanf doesn't need the address operators & because name is an address. However the variable name has no defined space. This can cause problems within C and we really should define the space .Within C we can allocate space by means of character array or system functions namely malloc, free and calloc.If we declare a character array, it also reserves the space required for that string (After all a string is a collection i.e. array of characters). Therefore the program becomes

    #include stdio.h
    void main()
    {
    char prompt;
    /*Author : Mr James Mc Carren  
    Company: Staffordshire University  
     Date: 26th August 2012  
    Version 1.0  
    Function : String storing using static storage       
     Modifications:   none*/
    char name[20];
    scanf("%s",name);
    printf("your name is %s \n\r",name);  
    printf("Press and key to exit \n\r");
    scanf("\n%c",&prompt);
    }
This allocates 20 spaces to the string name, however if we wish to input a 50 character  string , we would need to re-compile the program , an alternative is to use Malloc/Free .Malloc checks during run time whether there is enough  space left and if there is it allocated it while Free  releases the space allocated to a variable .The syntax for malloc/Free is  
 
     variable = ( char *)malloc(char size);
     free(variable);
 
Therefore the program becomes
 
    #include stdio.h
    #include stdlib.h
    void main()
    {
    char prompt;
   
     Date: 26th August 2012 
    Version 1.0 
    Function : String storing using dynamic allocation       
     Modifications:   none*/
      char *name;
      name = (char *)malloc(20);
      if (name == NULL) 
      {
      printf("Cannot allocate memory\n\r");
      exit(1);
      }
      scanf("%s",name);
      printf("your name is %s \n\r",name); 

      free(name);  
    printf("Press and key to exit \n\r");
    scanf("\n%c",&prompt);
    }

  Because Malloc allocates memory dynamically, we must place a trap routine to detect when the microprocessor cannot allocate memory (i.e. memory full), in this case malloc returns a NULL character back as the address of the variable i.e. This routine would detect the NULL character and exit the program .Note that malloced space is similar to a variable in that its life span is automatically terminated when a free command is used or the function where it was allocated ends no matter what you make read - this is not the case in C++  
 
      if (name == NULL) 
      {
      printf("Cannot allocate memory\n\r");
      exit(1);
      }
 
Therefore we could allocate a scratch pad of memory using malloc and we can poke around in that
area e.g.
 
  #include
    #include
    void main()
    { 
    char prompt;  
  
     Date: 26th August 2012
    Version 1.0 
Function : Dynamic allocation  of windows pointr area i.e segmented memory     
     Modifications:   none*/
 
      char *name;
      unsigned long int address;
      unsigned char *add;
      unsigned char data;
      name = (char *)malloc(0x4000);
      if (name == NULL) 
      {
      printf("Cannot allocate memory\n\r");
      exit(1);
      }
printf("Your segment area is %08lx to %08lx\n\r",name,name+(unsigned long int)0x4000);
printf("Please enter in the address  you want to read in the segment area\n\r");
scanf("%lx",&address);
add = (unsigned char *)address;
data = *add;
printf("The data at the address %08lx is %02x\n\r",address,data); 
printf("Press and key to exit \n\r");
scanf("\n%c",&prompt);
}


Related Discussions:- Malloc and calloc function

What is spooling, What is spooling? Spooling overlaps the I/O of single...

What is spooling? Spooling overlaps the I/O of single job with the computation of other jobs.

Disk scheduling algorithms-first come, FCFS (First Come, First Served) Per...

FCFS (First Come, First Served) Perform operations in order requested No reordering of work queue No starvation every demand is serviced Poor performance

What are kernels and what do kernels do, What are kernels and what do kerne...

What are kernels and what do kernels do? The kernel is a program that comprises the central core of a computer operating   system. It has entire control over everything that

Explain process scheduling in time sharing, Explain process scheduling in t...

Explain process scheduling in time sharing The relevant features of time sharing are: 1.      Process priorities do not depend on the nature of the processes 2.      Proc

Buffer, Ask question #Minimum 100 words accepted application of bounded and...

Ask question #Minimum 100 words accepted application of bounded and unbounded buffers

Explain long term scheduling, Long term scheduling Scheduling explicitl...

Long term scheduling Scheduling explicitly performed when a new process is created and it determines which programs are admitted to the system for processing. Therefore it cont

What are the main challenges for mobile computing, Question: (a) What ...

Question: (a) What are the main challenges for Mobile Computing? (b) What is the ISM band and what is particular about this frequency band? Name two wireless technologies

What is preallocation, What is preallocation? Why do it? Allocating spa...

What is preallocation? Why do it? Allocating space for a file before making the file to allow for expansion. This reserves space for a certain file so that other files can't gr

Describe the buddy system of memory allocation, Buddy system of memory allo...

Buddy system of memory allocation Free memory is used to maintain in linked lists, each of similar sized blocks. Every block is of size 2^k. When some memory is needed by a th

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd