StackThreads/MP: version 0.77 User's Guide

4.2: Region-Based Memory Management

Memory management based on explicit regions is available on top of any malloc/free implementation. In this memory management model, an object is allocated on a specified region. You can dynamically create a region and then allocate an arbitrary number of objects in that region. Unlike malloc and free, you do not free individual objects; instead, you reset a region. Resetting a region reclaims all objects allocated in the region. The model is borrowed from Aiken and Gay, Memory-Management with Explicit Regions, PLDI 98, but is different from theirs in that (1) we do not provide any safety guarantee, (2) we do not require a dedicated compiler that understands region, and (3) we provide a reset operation, which make blocks associated with a region immediately reusable for subsequent allocations from the region.