Does STL Vector use 'new' and 'delete' for memory allocation by default?

Question

I am working on a plugin for an application, where the memory should be allocated by the Application and keep track of it. Hence, memory handles should be obtained from the host application in the form of buffers and later on give them back to the application. Now, I am planning on using STL Vectors and I am wondering what sort of memory allocation does it use internally.

Does it use 'new' and 'delete' functions internally? If so, can I just overload 'new' and 'delete' with my own functions? Or should I create my own template allocator which looks like a difficult job for me since I am not that experienced in creating custom templates.

Any suggestions/sample code are welcome. Memory handles can be obtained from the application like this

void* bufferH = NULL;

bufferH = MemReg()->New_Mem_Handle(size_of_buffer);
MemReg()->Dispose_Mem_Handle(bufferH); //Dispose it

Answer 1

vector uses std::allocator by default, and std::allocator is required to use global operator new (that is, ::operator new(size_t)) to obtain the memory (20.4.1.1). However, it isn't required to call it exactly once per call to allocator::allocate.

So yes, if you replace global operator new then vector will use it, although not necessarily in a way that really allows your implementation to manage memory "efficiently". Any special tricks you want to use could, in principle, be made completely irrelevant by std::allocator grabbing memory in 10MB chunks and sub-allocating.

If you have a particular implementation in mind, you can look at how its vector behaves, which is probably good enough if your planned allocation strategy is inherently platform-specific.

Answer 2

STL containers use an allocator they are given at construction time, with a default allocator that uses operator new and operator delete.

If you find the default is not working for you, you can provide a custom allocator that conforms to the container's requirements. There are some real-world examples cited here.

I would measure performance using the default first, and optimize only if you really need to. The allocator abstraction offers you a relatively clean way to fine-tune here without major redesign. How you use the vector could have far more performance impact than the underlying allocator (reserve() in advance, avoid insert and removal in the middle of the range of elements, handle copy construction of elements efficiently - the standard caveats).