Memory Allocation
Memory allocation is more critical in an RTOS than in other operating systems.
First, speed of allocation is important. A standard memory allocation scheme scans a linked list of indeterminate length to find a suitable free memory block. This is unacceptable in an RTOS since memory allocation has to occur within a certain amount of time.
The simple fixed-size-blocks algorithm works quite well for simple embedded systems because of its low overhead.
Read more about this topic: Real-time Operating Systems
Famous quotes containing the word memory:
“Computers are good at swift, accurate computation and at storing great masses of information. The brain, on the other hand, is not as efficient a number cruncher and its memory is often highly fallible; a basic inexactness is built into its design. The brains strong point is its flexibility. It is unsurpassed at making shrewd guesses and at grasping the total meaning of information presented to it.”
—Jeremy Campbell (b. 1931)