What is the difference between heap and free store

Note that the heap and free-store may reside on distinct physical memory regions and they might be controlled by different underlying memory managers. Object lifetime can be less than the time the storage is allocated; that is, free store objects can have memory allocated without being immediately initialized, and can be destroyed without the memory being immediately deallocated.

Note that while the default global new and delete might be implemented in terms of malloc and free by a particular compiler, the heap is not the same as free store and memory allocated in one area cannot be safely deallocated in the other. Memory allocated from the heap can be used for objects of class type by placement-new construction and explicit destruction.

If so used, the notes about free store object lifetime apply similarly here. In practice, however, they are almost always the same region of memory -- in most cases if you dig into the compiler's implementation of new , you'll find it calls malloc.

In other words: from the machine's point of view, heap and free store are the same thing. The distinction exists inside the compiler. November 16th, , AM 2. Re: Difference between Heap and Free Store. Originally Posted by maverickus. November 16th, , AM 3. Out of memory happens!

Handle it properly! NET Framework. Claudio Puviani. What I though was that both new and malloc allocated memory in a common memory segment,. In my mind,.

Jack Klein. Despite this, everyone knows what is meant by 'the stack' and 'the heap' and 'free store' which is exactly the same thing as the heap. In my view it would be better if people stopped making such fine distinctions that only end up confusing other people, which apparently has happened to you. Yes, people who talk about the "stack" or the "heap" are the ones who confuse the issue. The standard defines three storage classes: static dynamic automatic If people would use the terms defined by the standard without delving into implementation details, they would not confuse other people.

It makes no difference at all whether the implementation uses a stack, a heap, virtual memory, or teleportation. Behavior is completely defined in terms of these classes, not the methods used to implement them. The confusion is caused by those who introduce terms like "stack" and "heap" into discussions which are completely defined by the three standard terms above. Jack said:. I don't think you looked very hard before reaching your conclusion. I assume you are picking on the distinction between "the" heap and "a" heap.

If so, you are doing a disservice to many people who are already struggling with the English language in this newsgroup by making your point in such a subtle way. Is it really that important to you to make your point? Dave Moore.