Re: Pointer Question

[Hans Boldt <boldt@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Smith, Nelson wrote:
> So what is the best way to clear previously used occurrances?  Do I have to
> loop through all of them clearing them one at at time?

Yes.

> Further debugging did prove that after using 8 occurs, then resetting the
> MODS to use 1 byte, then starting over and reallocating one occurrance's
> worth of memory at a time, on the fifth occurrance, I began picking up
> previously loaded data. So, apparently, REALLOC does not clear the new
> memory it is allocating.  At least not if it has been used previously in the
> same job?

Correct, ALLOC and REALLOC do not initialize storage.

BTW, I've argued elsewhere that perhaps dynamically allocated
storage is a technique that's being used way to much.  If you're
dealing with a relatively small amount of data (say less that 10000
records), you're probably better off using static arrays or MODS's.
  On the other hand, if you're dealing with a potentially large
amount of data, you're probably better off using a database file.
Considering the complexity of dynamic storage allocation, and the
potential for bugs, the other techniques are much easier to deal
with, even if they might be a bit more wasteful of resources.  (Then
again, doing a lot of REALLOC's certainly can be quite wasteful!)

Cheers!  Hans