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

Basic synchronization, (Add synchronization to your solutions to HW 3 to el...

(Add synchronization to your solutions to HW 3 to eliminate all of the race conditions.  You should not remove any of the sleep() commands that you used to produce the race conditi

List three ways of allocating storage, List three ways of allocating storag...

List three ways of allocating storage, and give advantages of each. a. Contiguous allocation. Fastest, if no changes are to be made. Also simplest for random access files. b

Linux, what is I/O management Linux

what is I/O management Linux

Explain fifo page replacement, FIFO page replacement This is the easie...

FIFO page replacement This is the easiest page replacement algorithm. At this juncture the 1 st page entering is the 1 st to leave that is the oldest page leaves. To execute

What is belady anomaly, What is Belady's anomaly When plotting on a g...

What is Belady's anomaly When plotting on a graph the page faults versus the number of available frames. We notice that the number of faults for four frames is greater than th

Producer - consumer synchronization, This assignment is based on Programmin...

This assignment is based on Programming Project 6.40 in Silbershatz. Implement the ProducerXConsumer program according to the instructions for Project 6.40 for both Linux and Win32

Which are the different states of a process, Which are the different states...

Which are the different states of a process?   Different status of a process is: New: When the process is created. Running: When instructions are executed. Wait

What lead to the concept of paging?, What lead to the concept of paging? ...

What lead to the concept of paging? The main memory is separated into two parts that are one for the resident operating system, and one for the user processes. We may perhaps p

Define the dosexit function used in the os/2, Define the DosExit Function u...

Define the DosExit Function used in the OS/2 DosExit(action, resultCode)  DosExit function is to be called when a thread or process is finished executing. If EXIT_THREAD is

What is an operating system process, What is an operating system process? H...

What is an operating system process? How is it different from a program? Why do we need the concept of a process, rather than simply talk about programs running in memory? The e

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