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Sbrk
and are basic memory management system calls used in Unix and Unix-like operating systems to control the amount of memory allocated to the data segment of the process (computing), process. These functions are typically called from a higher-level memory management library function such as . In the original Unix system, and were the only ways in which applications could acquire additional data space; later versions allowed this to also be done using the call. Description The brk and sbrk calls dynamic memory allocation, dynamically change the amount of space allocated for the data segment of the calling process. The change is made by resetting the program break of the process, which determines the maximum space that can be allocated. The program break is the address of the first location beyond the current end of the data region. The amount of available space increases as the break value increases. The available space is initialized to a value of zero, unless the break is lowe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malloc
C dynamic memory allocation refers to performing manual memory management for dynamic memory allocation in the C programming language via a group of functions in the C standard library, namely , , , and . The C++ programming language includes these functions; however, the operators and provide similar functionality and are recommended by that language's authors. Still, there are several situations in which using new/delete is not applicable, such as garbage collection code or performance-sensitive code, and a combination of malloc and placement new may be required instead of the higher-level new operator. Many different implementations of the actual memory allocation mechanism, used by , are available. Their performance varies in both execution time and required memory. Rationale The C programming language manages memory statically, automatically, or dynamically. Static-duration variables are allocated in main memory, usually along with the executable code of the pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Data Segment
In computing, a data segment (often denoted .data) is a portion of an object file or the corresponding address space of a program that contains initialized static variables, that is, global variables and static local variables. The size of this segment is determined by the size of the values in the program's source code, and does not change at run time. The data segment is read/write, since the values of variables can be altered at run time. This is in contrast to the ''read-only data segment'' ('' segment'' or ''.rodata''), which contains static constants rather than variables; it also contrasts to the code segment, also known as the text segment, which is read-only on many architectures. Uninitialized data, both variables and constants, is instead in the BSS segment. Historically, to be able to support memory address spaces larger than the native size of the internal address register would allow, early CPUs implemented a system of segmentation whereby they would store a small set ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memory Management
Memory management is a form of resource management applied to computer memory. The essential requirement of memory management is to provide ways to dynamically allocate portions of memory to programs at their request, and free it for reuse when no longer needed. This is critical to any advanced computer system where more than a single process might be underway at any time. Several methods have been devised that increase the effectiveness of memory management. Virtual memory systems separate the memory addresses used by a process from actual physical addresses, allowing separation of processes and increasing the size of the virtual address space beyond the available amount of RAM using paging or swapping to secondary storage. The quality of the virtual memory manager can have an extensive effect on overall system performance. In some operating systems, e.g. OS/360 and successors, memory is managed by the operating system. In other operating systems, e.g. Unix-like operating sy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Global Variable
In computer programming, a global variable is a variable with global scope, meaning that it is visible (hence accessible) throughout the program, unless shadowed. The set of all global variables is known as the ''global environment'' or ''global state.'' In compiled languages, global variables are generally static variables, whose extent (lifetime) is the entire runtime of the program, though in interpreted languages (including command-line interpreters), global variables are generally dynamically allocated when declared, since they are not known ahead of time. In some languages, all variables are global, or global by default, while in most modern languages variables have limited scope, generally lexical scope, though global variables are often available by declaring a variable at the top level of the program. In other languages, however, global variables do not exist; these are generally modular programming languages that enforce a module structure, or class-based object-oriente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memory Address
In computing, a memory address is a reference to a specific memory location used at various levels by software and hardware. Memory addresses are fixed-length sequences of digits conventionally displayed and manipulated as unsigned integers. Such numerical semantic bases itself upon features of CPU (such as the instruction pointer and incremental address registers), as well upon use of the memory like an array endorsed by various programming languages. Types Physical addresses A digital computer's main memory consists of many memory locations. Each memory location has a physical address which is a code. The CPU (or other device) can use the code to access the corresponding memory location. Generally only system software, i.e. the BIOS, operating systems, and some specialized utility programs (e.g., memory testers), address physical memory using machine code operands or processor registers, instructing the CPU to direct a hardware device, called the memory controller, to use the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exec (computing)
In computing, exec is a functionality of an operating system that runs an executable file in the context of an already existing process, replacing the previous executable. This act is also referred to as an overlay. It is especially important in Unix-like systems, although it exists elsewhere. As no new process is created, the process identifier (PID) does not change, but the machine code, data, heap, and stack of the process are replaced by those of the new program. The ''exec'' call is available for many programming languages including compilable languages and some scripting languages. In OS command interpreters, the built-in command replaces the shell process with the specified program. Nomenclature Interfaces to ''exec'' and its implementations vary. Depending on programming language it may be accessible via one or more functions, and depending on operating system it may be represented with one or more actual system calls. For this reason ''exec'' is sometimes descri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shared Memory (interprocess Communication)
In computer science, shared memory is memory that may be simultaneously accessed by multiple programs with an intent to provide communication among them or avoid redundant copies. Shared memory is an efficient means of passing data between programs. Depending on context, programs may run on a single processor or on multiple separate processors. Using memory for communication inside a single program, e.g. among its multiple threads, is also referred to as shared memory. In hardware In computer hardware, ''shared memory'' refers to a (typically large) block of random access memory (RAM) that can be accessed by several different central processing units (CPUs) in a multiprocessor computer system. Shared memory systems may use: * uniform memory access (UMA): all the processors share the physical memory uniformly; * non-uniform memory access (NUMA): memory access time depends on the memory location relative to a processor; * cache-only memory architecture (COMA): the local memor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inequality (mathematics)
In mathematics, an inequality is a relation which makes a non-equal comparison between two numbers or other mathematical expressions. It is used most often to compare two numbers on the number line by their size. There are several different notations used to represent different kinds of inequalities: * The notation ''a'' ''b'' means that ''a'' is greater than ''b''. In either case, ''a'' is not equal to ''b''. These relations are known as strict inequalities, meaning that ''a'' is strictly less than or strictly greater than ''b''. Equivalence is excluded. In contrast to strict inequalities, there are two types of inequality relations that are not strict: * The notation ''a'' ≤ ''b'' or ''a'' ⩽ ''b'' means that ''a'' is less than or equal to ''b'' (or, equivalently, at most ''b'', or not greater than ''b''). * The notation ''a'' ≥ ''b'' or ''a'' ⩾ ''b'' means that ''a'' is greater than or equal to ''b'' (or, equivalently, at least ''b'', or not less than ''b''). The re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and laptop computers it is the Usage share of operating systems#Desktop and laptop computers, second most widely used desktop OS, after Microsoft Windows and ahead of ChromeOS. macOS succeeded the classic Mac OS, a Mac operating system with nine releases from 1984 to 1999. During this time, Apple cofounder Steve Jobs had left Apple and started another company, NeXT Computer, NeXT, developing the NeXTSTEP platform that would later be acquired by Apple to form the basis of macOS. The first desktop version, Mac OS X 10.0, was released in March 2001, with its first update, 10.1, arriving later that year. All releases from Mac OS X Leopard, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and after are UNIX 03 certified, with an exception for OS X Lion, OS X 10. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Errno
errno.h is a header file in the standard library of the C programming language. It defines macros for reporting and retrieving error conditions using the symbol errno (short for "error number").International Standard for Programming Language C (C11), ISO/IEC 9899:2011, p. 205 errno acts like an integer variable. A value (the error number) is stored in errno by certain library functions when they detect errors. At program startup, the value stored is zero. Library functions store only values greater than zero. Any library function can alter the value stored before return, whether or not they detect errors.International Standard for Programming Language C (C99), ISO/IEC 9899:1999, p. 186 Most functions indicate that they detected an error by returning a special value, typically NULL for functions that return pointers, and -1 for functions that return integers. A few functions require the caller to preset errno to zero and test it afterwards to see if an error was detected. The e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
System Call
In computing, a system call (commonly abbreviated to syscall) is the programmatic way in which a computer program requests a service from the operating system on which it is executed. This may include hardware-related services (for example, accessing a hard disk drive or accessing the device's camera), creation and execution of new processes, and communication with integral kernel services such as process scheduling. System calls provide an essential interface between a process and the operating system. In most systems, system calls can only be made from userspace processes, while in some systems, OS/360 and successors for example, privileged system code also issues system calls. Privileges The architecture of most modern processors, with the exception of some embedded systems, involves a security model. For example, the ''rings'' model specifies multiple privilege levels under which software may be executed: a program is usually limited to its own address space so that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
