COMPUTATION TOOLS 2012 : The Third International Conference on Computational Logics, Algebras, Programming, Tools, and Benchmarking Fast Efficient Fixed-Size Memory Pool No Loops and No Overhead Ben Kenwright School of Computer Science Newcastle University Newcastle, United Kingdom,
[email protected] Abstract--In this paper, we examine a ready-to-use, robust, it can be used in conjunction with an existing system to and computationally fast fixed-size memory pool manager provide a hybrid solution with minimum difficulty. On with no-loops and no-memory overhead that is highly suited the other hand, multiple instances of numerous fixed-sized towards time-critical systems such as games. The algorithm pools can be used to produce a general overall flexible achieves this by exploiting the unused memory slots for general solution to work in place of the current system bookkeeping in combination with a trouble-free indexing memory manager. scheme. We explain how it works in amalgamation with Alternatively, in some time critical systems such as straightforward step-by-step examples. Furthermore, we games; system allocations are reduced to a bare minimum compare just how much faster the memory pool manager is to make the process run as fast as possible. However, for when compared with a system allocator (e.g., malloc) over a a dynamically changing system, it is necessary to allocate range of allocations and sizes. memory for changing resources, e.g., data assets Keywords-memory pools; real-time; memory allocation; (graphical images, sound files, scripts) which are loaded memory manager; memory de-allocation; dynamic memory dynamically at runtime.