From: Vladimir Marangozov <Vladimir.Marangozov@imag.fr> Subject: [ANN] A memory allocator for Python available Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 01:32:12 GMT This is to announce the availability of the first beta release of a new introspective, plug-in memory allocator for Python. As any first public release, it relies on your interest in it and your feedback. It is available at: http://starship.skyport.net/~vlad/pymalloc/ Here is a short description: This is a memory allocator for Python, named "pymalloc", which provides an implementation of the standard C library functions malloc, calloc, realloc and free, according to the POSIX standard. It was developed mainly for two purposes: Introspection. Being able to analyze how a particular program uses the memory it allocates from the system can bring significant improvements to the program, both during its design and execution. Memory usage profiles very often reveal hidden aspects of the real program behavior. This malloc provides facilities for building memory profiles which include several statistics on memory usage: allocated memory, unfreed memory, memory traces, etc. Performance. Memory profile analyses usually clarify our understanding of the program's memory needs. If the program allocates and releases memory blocks intensively, one can implement a special-purpose memory allocator which can lead to better performance at runtime. This malloc implements an allocation strategy, adapted to Python's memory usage, which competes with the underlying (general-purpose) system allocator. -- Vladimir MARANGOZOV | Vladimir.Marangozov@inrialpes.fr http://sirac.inrialpes.fr/~marangoz | tel:(+33-4)76615277 fax:76615252