heap

[jpc]

it looks like the help on the memory manager is not converted from C to pascal, function-names are different (in fact i see no advantage in different names ) and it looks to me the constant heap_size is set in the project-settings already.

[srdjan]

Hi,

it looks like the help on the memory manager is not converted from C to pascal, function-names are different (in fact i see no advantage in different names )

- Yes, the list of routines was not updated.
I'm also against different names and prototypes as well,
but this is mostly matter of taste.
Some Pascal users would criticize C-like names,
some C users would criticize Pascal like names...
Basic users would certainly have their comments too...

We'll unify this for sure, just to think of a proper method to satisfy all.

and it looks to me the constant heap_size is set in the project-settings already.

- Heap is not used by default and no space is allocated in the compiler.
If you want to use heap you need to check heap check box in Edit Project window
and set size you want to be allocated for the heap. By default this size is set to 2kB.

[jpc]

would it be possible to add the generic type pointer ? currently we can only use pointers to typed data or fool the compiler by using dword ( in some places i found longword instead, maybe best is to define both types to be valid). It would also be very usefull if you could implement New and Dispose on top of the basic Malloc end Free functions

[jpc]

another question related to dynamic variables, it looks like the minimum allocation is 4 bytes, allthough the help suggests 'WantedSize: size in bytes of the dynamic variable to allocate ' the size of a byte seems to be 4 . It may be good to explain this at least ( maybe alignment issue ?)

[jpc]

now that we have dynamic heap i started exploring it and have found some issue's
i started with this minimal program

Code: Select all

program testheap;
type testtype = record
                  field1 : string[20];
                  field2 : byte;
                  field3 : array[5]of real;
                end;

var testdata : ^testtype;
    i        : byte;
    tmp : dword;
begin
  i := sizeof(testtype);
  // getmem(testdata,sizeof(testtype)); // <<<<<<<<<<<< results in  Syntax error: Expected "pointer to longword (R100)" but "pointer to record (testdata)" found
  getmem(tmp,sizeof(testtype));
  testdata := tmp;
  with testdata^ do
  begin
    field1 :=  'test';
    field2 := 123;
    for i := 0 to 4 do
    begin
      field3[i] := 42.42 / i;
    end;

  end;
 // freemem(testdata,sizeof(testtype));  // <<<<<<<<<<<< results in  Syntax error: Expected "pointer to longword (R100)" but "pointer to record (testdata)" found
 tmp := testdata;
 freemem(tmp,sizeof(testtype));
end.

i commented the first problem i encountered.

Another issue is when i look at these pointervariables in the simulator, i would like to have a way to see the value of the variable, not just the pointer to it.
In the above example i would like to see the contents of testdata^ , not just testdata beeing no more than an address just provided by the getmem()

[srdjan]

Hi,
We will obviously have to thoroughly revise this library.
Thank you very much for you feedback.