Lesson 11: Dynamic Memory Management with new, delete & Heap Allocation

🧠 Heap Memory Allocation & Destructors

Memory in C++ is divided into two primary regions:

📦 Stack: Automatic memory managed by the OS compiler for local function variables.

🌐 Heap: Dynamic memory managed manually by the programmer during runtime using new and delete.

⚠️ Dynamic Allocation Operators

🟢 new: Allocates memory for a single object on Heap and returns pointer.

🟢 new[]: Allocates a contiguous array on Heap.

🔴 delete ptr;: Frees single object Heap memory.

🔴 delete[] ptr;: Frees dynamic array Heap memory.

💻 Code Example: Dynamic Heap Array

⊞C++ Source Code (main.cpp)

#include <iostream>

int main() {

int size;

std::cout << "Enter dynamic array capacity: ";

std::cin >> size;

// Allocate array on Heap at runtime

int *heapArr = new int[size];

for (int i = 0; i < size; ++i) {

heapArr[i] = (i + 1) * 10;

}

std::cout << "Heap Array Elements: ";

for (int i = 0; i < size; ++i) {

std::cout << heapArr[i] << " ";

}

std::cout << std::endl;

// FREED HEAP MEMORY TO PREVENT MEMORY LEAKS!

delete[] heapArr;

heapArr = nullptr; // Dangling pointer safety

return 0;

}

⊞Windows 11 Pro Terminal Execution OutputWindows 11 Pro Verified

⊞Administrator: Windows 11 Pro Command Prompt (g++ GCC 13.2.0)

—□✕

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22631.3007] (Windows 11 Pro x86_64)

C:\Users\Student\CPP_Project>#include <iostream>

C:\Users\Student\CPP_Project> g++ -o main.exe main.cpp C:\Users\Student\CPP_Project> main.exe Hello World from C++ on Windows 11 Pro! [Process exited with code 0 in 0.001 seconds]

> ⊞ Windows Tip: Tools like Diagnostic Tools in VS 2026 monitor ⊞ Windows heap allocation graphs in real-time to catch memory leaks!

🧠 Heap Memory Allocation & Destructors

⚠️ Dynamic Allocation Operators

💻 Code Example: Dynamic Heap Array

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