[boost] Preliminary Review Request: boost-memory

From: shiwei xu (xushiweizh_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-05-06 21:29:43

What is new?

1. Lock-free free list.
2. Provide both region allocators (boost::auto_alloc, boost::scoped_alloc)
and general-purpose allocators
(boost::gc_alloc<http://cpp.winxgui.com/boost-gc-alloc>
).

Highlights:

1. Allocating memory is very fast.
2. No memory leaks. No need to delete objects manually. Or forgetting to
delete objects is allowed.

---
What is boost-memory?
It provides allocators named "GC Allocator". Note "GC Allocator" isn't GC.
GC Allocator is different from STL Allocator. The following is minimum
specification for GC Allocator:
typedef void (*DestructorType)(void* data);
concept GCAllocator
{
    // Allocate memory without given a cleanup function
    void* allocate(size_t cb);
    // Allocate memory with a cleanup function
    void* allocate(size_t cb, DestructorType fn);
    // Cleanup and deallocate all allocated memory by this GC Allocator
    void clear();
    // Swap two GCAllocator instances
    void swap(GCAllocator& o);
};
For more information about GC Allocator, refer to
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cpp/gc-allocator.aspx