research-article

Two memory allocators that use hints to improve locality

Authors:

Lawrence RauchwergerAuthors Info & Claims

ISMM '09: Proceedings of the 2009 international symposium on Memory management

Pages 109 - 118

https://doi.org/10.1145/1542431.1542447

Published: 19 June 2009 Publication History

Abstract

Dynamic memory allocators affect an application's performance through their data layout quality. They can use an application's allocation hints to improve the spatial locality of this layout. However, a practical approach needs to be automatic, without user intervention. In this paper we present two locality improving allocators, that use allocation hints provided automatically from the C++ STL library to improve an application's spatial locality. When compared to state-of-the-art allocators on seven real world applications, our allocators run on average 7% faster than the Lea allocator, and 17% faster than the FreeBSD's allocator, with the same memory fragmentation as the Lea allocator, one of the best allocators.

While considering locality as an important goal, locality improving allocators must not abandon the existing constraints of fast allocation speed and low fragmentation. These constraints further challenge their design and implementation. We experimentally show that within a memory allocator, allocation speed, memory fragmentation, and spatial locality compete with each other in a game of rock, paper, scissors: when one tries to improve one trait, the others suffer. We conclude that our allocators achieve a good balance of these traits, and they can easily be adjusted to optimize the most important trait for each application.

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Cited By

Savage JJones TMars JTang LXue JWu P(2020)HALO: post-link heap-layout optimisationProceedings of the 18th ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Code Generation and Optimization10.1145/3368826.3377914(94-106)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3368826.3377914
Li PLuo HDing CSinger JXu H(2019)Timescale functions for parallel memory allocationProceedings of the 2019 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on Memory Management10.1145/3315573.3329987(64-78)Online publication date: 23-Jun-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3315573.3329987
Li PLuo HDing C(2016)Rethinking a heap hierarchy as a cache hierarchy: a higher-order theory of memory demand (HOTM)ACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/3241624.292670851:11(111-121)Online publication date: 14-Jun-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3241624.2926708
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Index Terms

Two memory allocators that use hints to improve locality
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Compilers
      1. Dynamic compilers
  2. Software organization and properties
    1. Contextual software domains
      1. Operating systems
        Memory management
        Allocation / deallocation strategies
        Virtual memory

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cover image ACM Conferences

ISMM '09: Proceedings of the 2009 international symposium on Memory management

June 2009

158 pages

ISBN:9781605583471

DOI:10.1145/1542431

General Chair:
Hillel Kolodner
IBM Haifa Research
,
Program Chair:
Guy Steele
Sun Microsystems Laboratories

Copyright © 2009 ACM.

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Published: 19 June 2009

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ISMM '09: International Symposium on Memory Management

June 19 - 20, 2009

Dublin, Ireland

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ISMM '09 Paper Acceptance Rate 15 of 32 submissions, 47%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 72 of 156 submissions, 46%

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Cited By

Savage JJones TMars JTang LXue JWu P(2020)HALO: post-link heap-layout optimisationProceedings of the 18th ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Code Generation and Optimization10.1145/3368826.3377914(94-106)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3368826.3377914
Li PLuo HDing CSinger JXu H(2019)Timescale functions for parallel memory allocationProceedings of the 2019 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on Memory Management10.1145/3315573.3329987(64-78)Online publication date: 23-Jun-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3315573.3329987
Li PLuo HDing C(2016)Rethinking a heap hierarchy as a cache hierarchy: a higher-order theory of memory demand (HOTM)ACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/3241624.292670851:11(111-121)Online publication date: 14-Jun-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3241624.2926708
Li PLuo HDing CFlood CZhang Z(2016)Rethinking a heap hierarchy as a cache hierarchy: a higher-order theory of memory demand (HOTM)Proceedings of the 2016 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on Memory Management10.1145/2926697.2926708(111-121)Online publication date: 14-Jun-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2926697.2926708
Chen XSlowinska ABos H(2016)On the detection of custom memory allocators in C binariesEmpirical Software Engineering10.1007/s10664-015-9362-z21:3(753-777)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10664-015-9362-z
Jantz MRobinson FKulkarni PDoshi K(2015)Cross-layer memory management for managed language applicationsACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/2858965.281432250:10(488-504)Online publication date: 23-Oct-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2858965.2814322
Jantz MRobinson FKulkarni PDoshi KAldrich JEugster P(2015)Cross-layer memory management for managed language applicationsProceedings of the 2015 ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications10.1145/2814270.2814322(488-504)Online publication date: 23-Oct-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2814270.2814322
Kotthaus HKorb IEngel MMarwedel P(2014)Dynamic page sharing optimization for the R languageACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/2775052.266109450:2(79-90)Online publication date: 14-Oct-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2775052.2661094
Kotthaus HKorb IEngel MMarwedel PBlack ATratt L(2014)Dynamic page sharing optimization for the R languageProceedings of the 10th ACM Symposium on Dynamic languages10.1145/2661088.2661094(79-90)Online publication date: 20-Oct-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2661088.2661094
Chen XSlowinska ABos H(2013)Who allocated my memory? Detecting custom memory allocators in C binaries2013 20th Working Conference on Reverse Engineering (WCRE)10.1109/WCRE.2013.6671277(22-31)Online publication date: Oct-2013
https://doi.org/10.1109/WCRE.2013.6671277
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