Re: Pool Review: Documentation

From: Jeff Garland (jeff_at_[hidden])
Date: 2000-12-05 12:50:57

--- In boost_at_[hidden], scleary_at_j... wrote:

> 
> Maybe.  If you have small object sizes, you can cut in underneath 
the memory
> overhead of most system-supplied allocators.  This is because these 
system
> allocators have to store the size of the block along with the 
block, so for,
> say, int-sized objects, you get 50% wasted memory.  So once you 
allocate
> FirstArraySize/2 chunks from a pool, your memory waste at worst-
case is the
> same as the system memory waste, until you start deallocating.

All this is good documentation of usage considerations :)

 
> > That's the point isn't it?  It really is magic!
> 
> It should be easy to use, but IMO memory allocation is not a huge 
overhead
> in real-world programs.  In my mind, pools should be used more for

While I might agree that many applications do not have performance 
issues, for many "real-world" applications memory management is a 
huge factor in performance.  Products like smart heap wouldn't exist 
if everyone could get by with the usual performance....

Jeff