Thread: Malloc - when to use?

I never quite understand the use of malloc. When I declare some variables, doesn't the system allocate some random memory for them to be placed? In what cases should I use malloc?
I have a struct like this;

Code:

struct Student
     {
     char name[20];
     int number, id, *testmarks;
     double total;
     };

I am expected to get these values from the user. That's nothing than scanf, but then I am expected to allocate the required memory. What code shoud I write to allocate the required memory for these struct or struct elements? And what will happen if I don't make it?

Originally Posted by farukyaz

I never quite understand the use of malloc. When I declare some variables, doesn't the system allocate some random memory for them to be placed? In what cases should I use malloc?
I have a struct like this;

Code:

struct Student
     {
     char name[20];
     int number, id, *testmarks;
     double total;
     };

I am expected to get these values from the user. That's nothing than scanf, but then I am expected to allocate the required memory. What code shoud I write to allocate the required memory for these struct or struct elements? And what will happen if I don't make it?

No C does not allocate memory... You have to do it all manually. You need to use malloc() or calloc() anytime you want to create variables that are not stored on the program's stack... and after reserving memory you have to free() it... every time.

For example:

Code:

int x;              // these are stored on the stack.  No Malloc.
char y[32];

int *z;            // these you need to allocate memory for
char *a;

z = malloc(100 * sizeof(int));  // create z[100];
a = malloc(1024 * sizeof(char));  // make a long string

// do a bunch of stuff

free(z);
free(a);

Originally Posted by CommonTater

No C does not allocate memory... You have to do it all manually. You need to use malloc() or calloc() anytime you want to create variables that are not stored on the program's stack... and after reserving memory you have to free() it... every time.

For example:

Code:

int x;              // these are stored on the stack.  No Malloc.
char y[32];

int *z;            // these you need to allocate memory for
char *a;

Thanks for the reply. I understood that some variables are stored on the stack because they have limits or a certain value, right? And why isn't a pointer, in your code "int *z" stored the same way? Will I need malloc whenever I use a pointer?

Originally Posted by Salem

Well if you were expecting a maximum of 10 marks, you could have this.

Code:

struct Student
     {
     char name[20];
     int number, id;
     int testmarks[10];
     double total;
     };

The point of having a pointer is that you DON'T know until run-time how many of something you're going to have to deal with. It might be only 3, or it could be a thousand.

int testmarks[1000]; would simply be wasteful 99% of the time, and just broken the other 1% when more than 1000 were needed.

So, we have pointers, so we can allocate what we need, when we know how many we need.

Thanks a lot, things are getting clearer now.

Originally Posted by farukyaz

Thanks for the reply. I understood that some variables are stored on the stack because they have limits or a certain value, right? And why isn't a pointer, in your code "int *z" stored the same way? Will I need malloc whenever I use a pointer?

No you don't need malloc for all pointers...

If you're doing, for example:

Code:

int x;  // variable

int *y;  // pointer

y = &x; // y now uses the storage allocated to x

What you need to do is grab some good tutorials from the web (there are some excellent ones on this forums parent site) and start reading. Programming isn't guess work... educate yourself.