Serial allocators/deallocators - c++

Question

I have a code that has a large number of mallocs and device-specific API mallocs (I'm programming on a GPU, so cudaMalloc).
Basically my end of my beginning of my code is a big smorgasbord of allocation calls, while my closing section is deallocation calls.
As I've encapsulated my global data in structures, the deallocations are quite long, but at least I can break them into a separate function. On the other hand, I would like a shorter solution. Additionally an automatic deallocator would reduce the risk of memory leaks created if I forget to explicitly write the deallocation in the global allocator function.
I was wondering whether it'd be possible to write some sort of templated class wrapper that can allow me to "register" variables during the malloc/cudaMalloc process, and then at the end of simulation do a mass loop-based deallocation (deregistration). To be clear I don't want to type out individual deallocations (free/cudaFrees), because again this is long and undesirable, and the assumption would be that anything I register won't be deallocated until the device simulation is complete and main is terminating.
A benefit here is that if I register a new simulation duration variable, it will automatically deallocate, so there's no danger of me forgetting do deallocate it and creating a memory leak.
Is such a wrapper possible?
Would you suggest doing it?
If so, how?
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

An idea:
Create both functions, one that allocates memory and provides valid pointers after register them in a "list" of allocated pointers. In the second method, loop this list and deallocate all pointers:
// ask for new allocated pointer that will be registered automatically in list of pointers.
pointer1 = allocatePointer(size, listOfPointers);
pointer2 = allocatePointer(size, listOfPointers);
...
// deallocate all pointers
deallocatePointers(listOfPointers);
Even, you may use different listOfPointers depending of your simulation scope:
listOfPointer1 = getNewListOfPointers();
listOfPointer2 = getNewListOfPointers();
....
p1 = allocatePointer(size, listOfPointer1);
p2 = allocatePointer(size, listOfPointer2);
...
deallocatePointers(listOfPointers1);
...
deallocatePointers(listOfPointers2);

Answer 2

There are many ways to skin a cat, as they say.
I would recommend thrust's device_vector as a memory management tool. It abstracts allocation, deallocation, and memcpy in CUDA. It also gives you access to all the algorithms that Thrust provides.
I wouldn't recommend keeping random lists of unrelated pointers as Tio Pepe recommends. Instead you should encapsulate related data into a class. Even if you use thrust::device_vector you may want to encapsulate multiple related vectors and operations on them into a class.

Answer 3

The best choice is probably to use the smart pointers from C++ boost library, if that is an option.
If not, the best you can hope for in C is a program design that allows you to write allocation and deallocation in one place. Perhaps something like the following pseudo code:
while(!terminate_program)
{
switch(state_machine)
{
case STATE_PREOPERATIONAL:
myclass_init(); // only necessary for non-global/static objects
myclass_mem_manager();
state_machine = STATE_RUNNING;
break;
case STATE_RUNNING:
myclass_do_stuff();
...
break;
...
case STATE_EXIT:
myclass_mem_manager();
terminate_program = true;
break;
}
void myclass_init()
{
ptr_x = NULL;
ptr_y = NULL;
/* Where ptr_x, ptr_y are some of the many objects to allocate/deallocate.
If ptr is a global/static, (static storage duration) it is
already set to NULL automatically and this function isn't
necessary */
}
void myclass_mem_manager()
{
ptr_x = mem_manage (ptr_x, items_x*sizeof(Type_x));
ptr_y = mem_manage (ptr_y, items_y*sizeof(Type_y));
}
static void* mem_manage (const void* ptr, size_t bytes_n)
{
if(ptr == NULL)
{
ptr = malloc(bytes_n);
if (ptr == NULL)
{} // error handling
}
else
{
free(ptr);
ptr = NULL;
}
return ptr;
}