Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Thomas_E_Zerucha
From: Thomas_E_Zerucha@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Malloc (was Re: Another great quote from Mr. Good)
Message-ID: <8425@cup.portal.com>
Date: 24 Aug 88 06:44:31 GMT
References: <1116@atari.UUCP} <692@auvax.UUCP} <1121@atari.UUCP> <402@clio.
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Actually, FOLDR100.prg does better than what MSDOS 2.xx may have done - it
uses a dynamically linked list which is expandable, and expands upon the
current OS Pool.  And According to A. Pratt, the NEW half-fixed Malloc will
use this *much* more efficiently.  The current ROMs can't change the size
of the allocated part of the OS pool, or recombine it once returned.

Idea:  Why not have the Malloc, or the low level OS Pool allocator detect
that it has run out of handle space, then allocate a small part of the
bottom of a free space (and perhaps return it if not the actual OS Pool).
That way, if it failed, you would *really* be out of memory, but the OS
Pool wouldn't be a restriction since it could then be extended as part of
the normal Malloc process (I know it would take wierd code to do this, but
it would fix both problems, since the current crop of Malloc violators don't
break, they shouldn't invoke this function ever, and the new fixed applications
would then work without worrying about handles).