Allocators
An allocator is a software component responsible for reserving and releasing resources, most often memory, within a program or system. In memory management, an allocator obtains blocks of memory from a larger pool and hands them to clients, while reclaiming memory when it is no longer needed. Effective allocators minimize overhead and fragmentation, provide predictable performance, and preserve alignment requirements for data types.
Common allocator classes include stack allocators, which allocate memory in a last-in, first-out fashion and release
In programming languages, allocators are often exposed as abstractions: in C++, the allocator concept describes how
Design goals include fast allocation/deallocation, minimal fragmentation, thread safety, alignment guarantees, and predictable latency. Trade-offs exist
Allocators are central to systems programming, game engines, real-time applications, and memory-constrained environments. They are less