Hoard memory allocator: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:39, 16 November 2010

Revision as of 16:46, 28 December 2010

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The '''Hoard memory allocator''', or '''Hoard''', is a [[memory allocation|memory allocator]] for [[Linux]], [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]], [[Microsoft Windows]] and other [[operating systems]]. Hoard is designed to be efficient when used by [[Multithreading (computer architecture)|multithreaded]] applications on [[multiprocessor]] computers. Hoard is distributed under the [[GPL]], but can be purchased for [[proprietary software]].

==History==

In 2000, its author [[Emery Berger]] benchmarked some famous memory allocators and stated Hoard improves the performance of multithreaded applications by providing fast, [[scalable]] [[memory management]] functions ([[malloc]] and [[Free (programming)|free]]). In particular, it reduces contention for the heap (the central data structure used in [[dynamic memory allocation]]) caused when multiple threads allocate or free memory, and avoids the [[false sharing]] that can be introduced by memory allocators. At the same time, Hoard has strict bounds on [[fragmentation (computer)|fragmentation]].<ref name=Berger2000>{{cite journal

| author = Berger, E.D.

| coauthors = McKinley, K.S.; Blumofe, R.D.; Wilson, P.R.

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| accessdate = 2008-01-06

| doi = 10.1145/356989.357000

}}</ref><ref>above PDF freely available at http://www.cs.umass.edu/~emery/hoard/asplos2000.pdf</ref>.

In 2004, Maged Michael implemented a new memory allocator and benchmarked it with Hoard and some other famous memory allocators. He stated its new memory allocator is more efficient than Hoard.<ref name=Maged2003>{{cite journal

| author = Maged M. Michael

| coauthors = Thomas, J. Waston

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| accessdate =

| doi = 10.1145/996841.996848

}}</ref><ref>above PDF freely available at http://www.research.ibm.com/people/m/michael/pldi-2004.pdf</ref>. Then Maged Michael contributed to improve Hoard's quality.<ref>See THANKS file in source code</ref>.

Nowadays, Hoard is still maintained and improved and software relies on it.<ref>[http://ineluttabile.it/node/6 Toffanin Mauro's blog] Commercial [[Linux distribution]]s may use '''Hoard''' instead of [[GNU libc]]</ref><ref>[http://www.gnutelephony.org/index.php/GNU_Common_C%2B%2B#Downloading_and_Documentation GNU Telephony] GNU Common C++ uses lib'''hoard'''</ref>.

==References==

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* [http://www.cs.umass.edu/~emery Emery Berger], Hoard's author and a professor at the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]].

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoard Memory Allocator}}

[[Category:Memory management]]

[[Category:Memory management software]]