CMU 15213：malloc笔记和malloc实验

1. malloc笔记

1.1 基础概念

1.dynamic memory allocators：应用程序运行期间申请的内存（malloc）。

2.堆：dynamic memory allocator管理的进程内存区域
3.types of allocator：隐式分配器（new and garbage collection）和显示分配器（malloc & free）

1.2 explicit allocator

1.malloc、free、realloc
2.16-byte (x86-64) alignment on 64-bit systems
3.内部碎片产生的原因：

• 维持堆所需的数据结构开销
• 对齐的需要
• 分配器实现的策略（比如，to return a big block to satisfy a small request）

4.外部碎片：Occurs when there is enough aggregate heap memory, but no single free block is large enough。（大块被划分成小块，虽然整个空闲内存能够放下程序，但是找不到单独的一块去存放）

5.keep track of free blocks：显式、隐式链表、Segregated free list（Different free lists for different size classes）、Blocks sorted by size（红黑树，长度为key）

1.2.1 隐式空闲链表

1.block structures

typedef struct block
{
    word_t header;//包含1bit的是否分配、剩下的表示payload大小	
    unsigned char payload[0];
} block_t;

2.Header access

• Getting allocated bit from header return header & 0x1;
• Getting size from header return header & ~0xfL;
• Initializing header block->header = size | alloc;

3.Traversing list

static block_t *find_next(block_t *block)
{
    return (block_t *) ((unsigned char *) block 
                        + get_size(block));
}

4. Finding a Free Block

• first fit

static block_t *find_fit(size_t asize)
{
    block_t *block;
    for (block = heap_start; block != heap_end;
         block = find_next(block)) {
    {
      if (!(get_alloc(block)) 
          && (asize <= get_size(block)))
         return block;
    }
    return NULL; // No fit found
}

• next fit
• best fit

5.Allocating in Free Block and Splitting Free Block

6.Freeing a Block and Coalescing and Bidirectional Coalescing

1.2.2 显式空闲链表

1.Unordered（插入时间复杂度O(1)）

• LIFO (last-in-first-out) policy
• FIFO (first-in-first-out) policy

2. Address-ordered policy（插入时间复杂度O(n)）

1.2.3 Segregated List

1.按照不同的大小划分不同的List

2.To allocate a block of size n:

• Search appropriate free list for block of size m > n (i.e., first fit)
• If an appropriate block is found:
  Split block and place fragment on appropriate list
  If no block is found, try next larger class
• Repeat until block is found

3.If no block is found:

• Request additional heap memory from OS (using sbrk())
• Allocate block of n bytes from this new memory
• Place remainder as a single free block in appropriate size class.

1.3 隐式内存管理（垃圾收集）

1.How does the memory manager know when memory can be freed?

• In general we cannot know what is going to be used in the future since it depends on conditionals
• But we can tell that certain blocks cannot be used if there are no pointers to them

2.Must make certain assumptions about pointers

• Memory manager can distinguish pointers from non-pointers
• All pointers point to the start of a block
• Cannot hide pointers (e.g., by coercing them to an int, and then back again)：比如c语言，可以任意的使用指针，所以c语言不能够自动清理垃圾

3.采用有向图标记：堆中分配的block看成节点，边看成指针。利用dfs算法，可以标记现在或者未来依然会使用的堆中的block。

malloc实验

看了几个博客，用隐式链表的话能得个50分左右，采用显式空闲链表+LIFO或者显式空闲链表+地址排序能得个80分左右，采用Segregated List得分较高，有100分左右。