Professional C++

Chapter 13. Effective Memory Management

In many ways, programming in C++ is like driving without a road. Sure, you can go anywhere you want, but there are no lines or traffic lights to keep you from injuring yourself. C++, like the C language, has a hands-off approach towards its programmers. The language assumes that you know what you're doing. It allows you to do things that are likely to cause problems because C++ is incredibly flexible and sacrifices safety in favor of performance.

Memory allocation and management is a particularly error-prone area of C++ programming. To write high-quality C++ programs, professional C++ programmers need to understand how memory works behind the scenes. This chapter explores the ins and outs of memory management. You will learn about the pitfalls of dynamic memory and some techniques for avoiding and eliminating them.

The chapter begins with an overview on the different ways to use and manage memory. Next, you will read about the often perplexing relationship between arrays and pointers. You will then learn about the creation and management of C-style strings. A low-level look at working with memory comes next. Finally, the last section of this chapter covers some specific problems that you may encounter with memory management and proposes a number of solutions.

Working with Dynamic Memory

When learning to program, dynamic memory is often the first major stumbling block that novice programmers face. Memory is a low-level component of the computer ...