Memory allocator
A software component or interface that manages the allocation and release of memory for program use.
Code Like a Pro in Rust
The Allocator trait is a Rust trait that defines operations and behavior for types representing memory allocators.
- How it is used
- Customizes heap allocation for individual Rust data structures, including vectors and protected-memory storage.
- How deep it goes
- Works through required trait methods, default operations, a pass-through implementation, a C allocator, and partial page-aligned allocation and deallocation.
- Examples
- Uses a Global-delegating allocator, a malloc/free-backed Vec, and a page-aligned allocator with protected regions around sensitive storage.
- What you can do after
- Build it from scratch by implementing allocate and deallocate, then use the allocator with Vec while accounting for layout and platform requirements.
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Rust in Action: Systems programming concepts and techniques
An allocator is a program component that manages dynamic memory requests and may optimize interaction with the operating system.
- How it is used
- Explains dynamic-memory behavior and measures allocation costs before choosing optimization strategies.
- How deep it goes
- Defines the allocation workflow, demonstrates a reporting allocator, and measures timing, but stops short of allocator implementation internals.
- Examples
- Uses a Rust particle application, a custom GlobalAlloc wrapper, allocation logs, and a plotted allocation-time comparison.
- What you can do after
- Diagnose allocation costs with a custom Rust global allocator and reduce overhead using reuse, tuned allocators, or arenas.
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Related concepts
- heapused by · A memory heap is a runtime memory region used for dynamically allocated data whose size or lifetime is not confined to a function call or stack frame.
- memory deallocationhas part · Memory deallocation is the release of previously allocated storage so it can be reclaimed or reused.
- memory allocationhas part · Memory allocation is the process of reserving or assigning storage for program data and objects during execution.
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