Memory and pointers

Hi

I am a noob in C programming and trying to learn. I came across some code that needs some explanation from someone who can C.

The program should malloc a big memory block and I should then use this memory block to manage objects with pointers.

Code:

---

struct list_el {
        int id;

        struct list_el *prev;
        struct list_el *next;
};

typedef struct list_el item;

int main(void)
{
        void *myMemory = malloc(11111111111);
        struct list_el* item = (struct list_el*)myMemory;

        //Instead of using malloc when creating an object of this struct,          can I do this:

        int pos = add(pos) + item;

}

int add(int pos)
{
        item *curr;
        curr = pos + sizeof(struct list_el);
        curr->id = 1;

        return curr;
}

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I have no clear understanding of what

Code:

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struct list_el* item = (struct list_el*)myMemory;

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do. Is my understanding of pointers and memory in this example wrong?

I will never suggest anyone to go with this paradigm to understand the pointer and the memory. This is totally one big mess. After all I will be surprised if this code worked.

Code:

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int pos = add(pos) + item;

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Pos not initialised an sending a garbage value to func add and which is obviously going to return and unknown memory address. Which may be perhaps beyond your allocated memory access.

The amount memry your are allocating too big big than a long int. You should get a compiler warning on that?

Your not checking the return value of malloc? Its more likely the malloc will fail to allocate such a huge memory unless or otherwise.

Code:

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struct list_el* item = (struct list_el*)myMemory;

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I really dont think there is a need for this. You could still do the pointer offseting through myMemory. Unless other can find the need of it?

Harish

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ssharish2005

I will never suggest anyone to go with this paradigm to understand the pointer and the memory. This is totally one big mess. After all I will be surprised if this code worked.

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I'll say!

That's 11, 1s he's got there... 11gb of ram.

In multitasking environments (which is every computer, nowadays) you use memory only as needed and release it as soon as you're done.