Memory Allocators

Discussions center on the performance shortcomings of glibc's default malloc allocator, comparisons with alternatives like jemalloc, tcmalloc, mimalloc, and arena/bump allocators, and custom allocation strategies in C/C++.

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Keywords

CS e.g allocsrv.ps vt.edu GC STL isocpp.org utexas.edu OS people.cs allocator malloc memory allocation rust arena glibc libc heap parameter

Sample Comments

hinkley • Mar 19, 2025 • View on HN

Is the glibc allocator still that bad? I thought they replaced that ages ago.

squid_demon • Nov 26, 2020 • View on HN

Maybe I'm missing something but it doesn't look like memory allocation was carefully considered in this library. For example, there are no custom allocators?

partycoder • Oct 10, 2018 • View on HN

Good for didactic purposes but in the real world you may want to try an allocator like tcmalloc or jemalloc.

hrpnk • Apr 8, 2021 • View on HN

Which memory allocator did you end up using?

senatorobama • Sep 17, 2017 • View on HN

What's the state of the art in memory allocation?

nyberg • Feb 28, 2023 • View on HN

How would it work with userspace memory allocators?

dochtman • Jan 4, 2011 • View on HN

Why is this not the default malloc shipped with libc's around the world yet?

vbezhenar • Jan 19, 2022 • View on HN

It's just a well known arena allocator pattern, implemented on OS level.

ancarda • Aug 7, 2013 • View on HN

As someone who has never touched C/C++ or managed their own memory, can you explain how other allocators work and how the performance differs from malloc?

gpderetta • Oct 2, 2019 • View on HN

The allocator in question runs in userspace.