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Programming-Idioms

  • VB
  • Go

Idiom #207 Allocate a list that is automatically deallocated

Allocate a list a containing n elements (n assumed to be too large for a stack) that is automatically deallocated when the program exits the scope it is declared in.

a := make([]T, n)

Elements have type T.
a is garbage-collected after the program exits its scope, unless we let it "escape" by taking its reference.
The runtime decides if a lives in the stack on in the heap.
  integer, dimension(:), allocatable :: a
  allocate (a(n))
New implementation...
< > ⌨
tkoenig 
a := make([]T, n)
  integer, dimension(:), allocatable :: a
  allocate (a(n))
var
  a: array of some_type;
...
  SetLength(a, n);
...
{
    my @a = (undef) x $n;
    # scope ends at closing brace
} 
def func():
    a = [0] * n
    # local variable automatically deallocated at end of function
    return
a = Array.new(n)
let a = vec![0; n];