Thread: How to measure memory consumption?

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@Shakti: If using MS VC++, there are excellent tools available for tracking memory leaks (including info on the specific line the memory was allocated on). There is a how-to section for detecting memory leaks in the link below, from codeguru.
http://www.codeguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=312742
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I am aware that VS has good tools for that, but by creating your own system you have the options to create your own garbage-handler (if you want to, and have the knowledge to), dump all the info to a file (I dont know if VS's tools can, they probably can but i find it easier to just write my own handler and use that rather than go out and search through 10 pages of msdn to find out how).

You can also incorporate alot of other debug stuff needed/wanted by your application.

Im not saying VS's version is bad, im just saying that there are benefits to have by writing your own means to keep track of heap-declared variables.

And the last thing the user benefits from; the code is not tied to using MS VS

@Shakti: Fair enough.

>>VS debugging tools in their current version are not that great.
Only ones I've tried so far, so I can't judge that.

>>Again, does that include classes from other libraries that you didn't write and that you cannot change?
Probably not. And what about code using malloc()?

Again, does that include classes from other libraries that you didn't write and that you cannot change?

No, it does not, unless you overload new and delete globally instead of relative to a class.

If you override them globally then your new and delete will be called and as long as the object is created dynamically it does not matter who coded it, you can still keep track of it's memory consumption.

I'm not sure what happens if that object calls new and delete itself. It would make sense that it would call your new and delete which would allow you to do memory management on the object as well. Perhaps Prelude or Salem could interject here.

Originally Posted by Bubba

VS debugging tools in their current version are not that great. I would overload new and delete relative to the desired object(s).

Salem nailed it and it's the only sure fire way of guaranteeing correct values as well as tracking memory using your own methods. Since every object created on the heap must be allocated using new and must be de-allocated using delete, you have a 100% foolproof way to manage dynamic memory.

So are you suggestion that the best way is to overload new and delete operator and perhaps to use one global variable to count number of new and delete calls to sure that at the end there's no memory leak?

Originally Posted by Bubba

I'm not saying it's the best way, I'm saying it's one way of doing it.

Ok, and what way do you use?