babymalloc

A dynamic memory allocator in C, inspired by the CS:APP malloc lab from the CMU course Intro to Computer Systems.

Description

This is a dynamic memory allocator that utilizes simple techniques:

• First-fit placement policy:
  • The allocator searches for the first free block that is large enough to fit the requested size.
• Boundary tags:
  • Each block contains a header and footer that store the size of the block and whether the block is allocated or free.
  • This allows the allocator to traverse the heap in both directions.
• Implicit free list:
  • The allocator uses a simple implicit free list to keep track of free blocks.
  • The allocator traverses the free list using the size of the blocks.
• Immediate coalescing:
  • When a block is freed, the allocator checks if the adjacent blocks (in both sides) are free and coalesces them.
• Splitting:
  • When a free block is selected for an allocation, the allocator checks if the block is large enough to be split into two blocks.
• sbrk:
  • The allocator uses the sbrk system call to request more memory from the kernel when the heap is full.
• Alignment:
  • The allocator aligns the blocks to the word size of the CPU.
• Platform Compatibility:
  • The allocator works on 64-bit, 32-bit and smaller CPUs on UNIX-like systems.