Lab 5: Dynamic Arrays 

Table of Contents

Lab 5: Dynamic Arrays

Overview 

You will write a program that converts text from ASCII to Integers and stores it in a dynamic array.

C Memory Management 

Note

C does not automatically allocate and release memory except for variables and arrays declared directly.

C knows how much memory to allocate for these instances because the size is declared in the source code. You cannot change the size of an array in C because C allocates specifies the amount of memory to be allocated the memory at compile time, also called static memory allocation.

// The size is known. The compile specifies the memory size to allocate
int index = 0;            // allocates 2 or 4 bytes
int array[5] = {'0'}      // allocates 10 or 20 bytes

// The pointer is the starting address. The size is not known.
// This code will crash the program or destroy data in memory
// because the memory was not allocated. It will overwrite
// whatever is there.
char *input;              // allocates a single byte
scanf("%s",&input);       // could cause a segmentation fault

Programmers must use dynamic memory allocation for dynamic data. For example, you don’t want to create an array for the maximum or worst-case scenario. Instead, a C programmer will use malloc to allocate the required memory during runtime. Pointers are necessary to allocate memory dynamically, which is the starting address of the memory block.

int index = 0;
int array[5] = {'0'}

C does not preserve the end of the block or the size. Programmers using C must manage the memory carefully to prevent issues, such as segmentation fault’s and Memory leak’s.

Tip

C programmers must master the use of pointers to program in C effectively. Take a look at the code for a Linked List. Note the use of pointers.

C has four functions to help you manage the memory.

C - Memory Management- An overview

C Functions - malloc(), calloc(), realloc(), and free()

C Reference function malloc()

C Reference function calloc()

C Reference function realloc()

C Reference function free()

C Memory Access Using Pointers 

Caution

It is easy to get a segmentation fault when using pointers to access data in memory. C has no protection to prevent memory access violations.

You must always allocate the memory you need or know specifically the size or range of the data.

C Memory Cleanup 

C has no automatic memory cleanup, de-allocation, or garbage collector features. The programmer must be attentive to allocate memory and then free the memory when it is no longer needed. Otherwise, your program will suffer from a Memory leak. A memory leak is when an application does not free allocated memory, which then uses more and more memory the longer that the program runs.

Here is an example of a memory leak in C. The function allocates memory using malloc but never frees that memory.

Source: Memory leak (Wikipedia)

void function_which_allocates(void)
{
    /* allocate an array of 45 floats */
    float *a = malloc(sizeof(float) * 45);

    /* additional code making use of 'a' */

    /* return to main, having forgotten to free the memory we malloc'd */
}

int main(void) {
    function_which_allocates();

    /* the pointer 'a' no longer exists, and therefore cannot be freed,
    but the memory is still allocated. a leak has occurred. */
}

Task 1: Allocate Memory for your Name 

First, let’s prevents a a segmentation fault by allocation memory for the name that the user enters. Otherwise, a user could in a long name that the process tries to write to memory that it hasn’t allocated

Warning

You cannot safely use a pointer array with scanf because it can cause an access memory violation error on strings longer than 12 or 16. The OS does know how much memory to allocate the program.

Open up ide.judge0.com or VSC and GCC. Start with a template, such as the Basic C Template.
Prompt the user for their name or text.
Caution

Creating a pointer for an array without allocating will cause a segmentation fault.
```
// a pointer to a single byte
char *text;
// Could cause segmentation fault if the input is larger than a byte
scanf(&text);
```
1. scanf stops reading input on the first whitespace. This site explains how to use scanf() and fgets() to read in text that contains whitespace.
2. Allocate 64 bytes for the text by creating an empty array.
3. Limit the length of the user input to 64 characters.
```
// 1. Create an array using [] if using scanf
//    arg[1] already allocates the required memory
// 2. Use scanf or fgets to read the user input

scanf("%s64", &text);
fgets(text, MAX_LENGTH, stdin);
```
Print the text to verify that you are working with the correct data.
```
Enter your name: Jimmy
Jimmy
```

Task 2: Get the length of your name 

Next, let’s get the length of the entered name.

Unfortunately, there is no way to calculate the length of an array from a pointer. C only knows the start address. You can read more about the problem here on StackOverflow post How to find the 'sizeof' (a pointer pointing to an array).

You can find the length of char *array = "abc" because a string always terminates with the null pointer (\0). “abc” is the same as {'a','b','c','\0',}. The solution is iterate through char array moving the pointer to the next index looking for char \0. This method is probably how function strlen() finds the length of the string.

Note

Do not use strlen().

Create a function using this prototype:

/**
* Gets the size of a char array
*
* char *array: pointer to a char array
* returns: the length of the char array
*/
int get_size (char *);

Iterate through the char array to count the number of characters. The function will have this algorithm:

/**
* 1. Create a new pointer for the loop using the address to the array
*    - You will lose the start address of *array if you advance that pointer
*    char *ptr = array;
*
* 2. Loop through memory counting the characters until the contents
*    of memory = '\0'
*    - ptr is the address of the first character of the array
*    - *ptr contains the data at that pointer location
*    - ptr++ increments the pointer to the next address in memory
*    - Compare the data at the memory address (*ptr) to '\0'
*
* 3. Return the length of of array
*/

for (ptr; FILL_IN; ptr++) {

}

Print the length of the string to verify that it works with strings of different lengths

Enter your name: Jimmy
Jimmy: 5

Enter your name: Jimmy-the-Memory-Leaker
Jimmy-the-Memory-Leaker: 23

Task 3: Convert your name to Integers 

You will dynamically allocate memory for an array that will hold the Integer characters of your name using malloc.

C - Memory Management (tutorialspoint)

C Reference function malloc()

Create a function with this prototype:

/**
 * Creates an int array from a char array
 *
 * char *str_array: pointer to a char array
 * returns: the pointer to the int array
 */
int *create_int_array(char *);

Iterate through the char array by advancing the pointer.

You can advance the pointer in a for loop like this:

// Add 'i' to the pointer and then get the value at that address
int value = *(ptr + i);

// prt++;       moves the pointer
// *(ptr + i)   uese the offset to obtain the value

Print the int values to the screen to verify that you have the correct values.
Expected output using ABCD-abcd
```
Enter your name: ABCD-abcd
65 66 67 68 45 97 98 99 100
```

Use malloc to dynamically allocate memory for an int array.

// 'malloc' allocates memory based on the:
//       size of the data type * the  number of elements.
// It then returns the pointer to the start of the allocated memory
int *int_array = malloc(sizeof(int) * size);

// This example creates an array of 15 floats:
int *float_array = malloc(sizeof(float) * 15);

Note

You do not need to preserve the initial pointer value if you do not advance the pointer using int_array++;

Add the integer equivalent of the ASCII char to the correct memory location or index allocated by malloc.

You need to advance the pointer or get the offset to the next memory location.

/**
 * There are two ways to move a pointer to the next memory location:
 * 1. Advance the pointer:
 *    int_array++;
 * 2. Use the offset.
 *     *(int_array + i)
 */

  for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
  {
      // 1. get value from the char array
      // 2. Write that value to the memory address of the pointer
  }

Return the pointer to int_array.

Task 4: Print the Array 

We still have the problem that we cannot determine programmatically the size of a dynamically created array. We have to keep track of the number of elements that we added to it.

Think about how you might solve the problem. Here are some suggestions:

Use a pointer to hold the number of elements added to the array. The function sets the value in memory using the pointer, like what we did in Lab 4, Task 2: Create a Function with Pointers to keep track of previous.
Keep track of the array size in main() and change the function prototype of:
// Change:
int *convert_ascii_to_int(char *str_array) { }

// to:
int *convert_ascii_to_int(char *str_array, int size) { }

Create a function with this prototype that prints the int_array.

/**
 * Prints an array of integer values
 *
 * int array:  the pointer to the array
 * int size:  the size of the array
 */
void print_array(int *int_array, int size);

Print the values from the array

Expected Results using fgets()

Enter your name: ABCD-abcd
65 66 67 68 45 97 98 99 100 10

Enter your name: ABCD 1234 5 6 7 8 9
65 66 67 68 32 49 50 51 52 32 53 32 54 32 55 32 56 32 57 10

Enter your name: Jimmy the Memory Leaker
74 105 109 109 121 32 116 104 101 32 77 101 109 111 114 121 32 76 101 97 107 101 114 10

Use an ASCII Converter to verify the results

Task 5: Free the Memory 

Our program works without a memory leak because it exits immediately after printing the data in the array. We will have a memory leak if we repeat the process because we do not release data before destroying the pointer.

Create a loop to prompt the user for a name until they quit.
Use void free ( void * ptr ); to release the memory

Example output

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to our ASCII to Integer converter!
Enter text up to 64 characters and we'll give the interger equivalent.
Enter '~' to exit

Enter some text: abcd
97 98 99 100 10
Enter some text: 1
49 10
Enter some text: 2
50 10
Enter some text: ABCDEFG
65 66 67 68 69 70 71 10
Enter some text: `fgets()` works with spaces!
96 102 103 101 116 115 40 41 96 32 119 111 114 107 115 32 119 105 116 104 32 115 112 97 99 101 115 33 10
Enter some text: Notice the \n char (0xA)
78 111 116 105 99 101 32 116 104 101 32 92 110 32 99 104 97 114 32 40 48 120 65 41 10
Enter some text: ~ Goodbye!
126 32 71 111 111 100 98 121 101 33 10