Pro lesson · Preview
Dynamic Memory: malloc & free
Sizing memory at runtime with malloc/calloc/realloc, and the discipline of free that prevents leaks, double-frees, and use-after-free bugs.
25 min read
This lesson is part of Pro
Upgrade to unlock the full lesson and the complete interview Q&A.
Unlock with Pro5 interview questions on this topic
Each one opens a full worked answer.
What's the difference between malloc and calloc?What is a memory leak, and why is it worse on an embedded device than a desktop?What's wrong with ptr = realloc(ptr, new_size);?What is use-after-free and why is it so dangerous?Why do many embedded/safety-critical projects forbid malloc after startup?
This is just the start
Sign up free to track your progress through this course, mark lessons complete, and work through the full interview Q&A.
More in C Programming
The C Compilation PipelinePointers & AddressesPointer Arithmetic & Arrays
Stack vs Heap
Structs, Unions & Bitfields
Bit Manipulation & Masks