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

Evicting pages from physical memory, When do we write a page from physical ...

When do we write a page from physical memory back to the disk? In general, caches have two broad types of writing policies. One approach is a write-through cache. In this case,

What is the design issues involved in segmentation?, SEGMENTATION HARDWARE ...

SEGMENTATION HARDWARE An execution to map two-dimensional user-defined addresses into one-dimensional physical addresses. This mapping is affected by means of segment table. Ev

What is demand paging, What is Demand paging? Virtual memory is commonl...

What is Demand paging? Virtual memory is commonly executed by demand paging. In demand paging, the pager brings only those essential pages into memory instead of swapping in a

Can dhcp provide support for mobile users, Question: a) The Dynamic Ho...

Question: a) The Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) server is important for setting TCP/IP configuration, when there are a large number of clients on the network. How does D

Explain about paging, Explain about paging? Answer: Paging is a memory-...

Explain about paging? Answer: Paging is a memory-management scheme that permits the physical-address space of process to be noncontiguous. Paging avoids the considerable proble

Explain what type of group scope you will use, Question: (a) The actual...

Question: (a) The actual use and scope groups depend on the mode in which a domain is running. There are two domain modes in which you can run a Windows 2000 domain. List and d

Invalid page fault, Invalid page fault :If a page fault happens for a ref...

Invalid page fault :If a page fault happens for a reference to an address that's not part of the virtual address space, so that there could not be a page in memory corresponding

Define system call, Define System Call A system call is a request that ...

Define System Call A system call is a request that is made by any program to the operating system for carrying out tasks - picked from a predefined set - which the said program

Briefly describe the producer-consumer problem, Question: a) Each proc...

Question: a) Each process is represented in the operating system by a process control block (PCB). The PCB contains many pieces of information associated with a specific proce

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