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• .NET 6/7/8 SDK (https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/visual-studio-sdks)

Let’s look more in-depth at how object allocation and deallocation work in programming and what happens behind the scenes. Before we get into the programmatic aspects of allocation and deallocation, we must first understand and appreciate what an object is and why it is an essential construct in programming.

Objects and how they are created

An object is an instantiation of a class in object-oriented programming (OOP). In every programming language, we construct a variable, which is used to store data between operations in a program. A variable is declared to have a type and a name. The types that can be used are as follows:

• Value type: Uses primitive types such as bool, int, and char. Variables defined by these types hold data in their location.
• Reference type: More complex data types, such as classes, arrays, and delegates. These contain pointers to a memory location that holds the data.

Value-type variables are the...

Since the CLR handles the automatic creation and allocation of objects in memory, its most trusted companion is the automatic GC. The GC monitors objects in memory and decides whether they should stay longer based on the program’s needs or if they should be destroyed from memory to be reclaimed.

This automatic memory management mechanism eliminates common developer problems, such as the following:

• Forgetting to free an object, which can lead to a memory leak and poor use of system resources
• Attempting to access an object that has already been removed from memory

The .NET runtime has a built-in garbage collection engine orchestrated by the CLR. The CLR employs a garbage collection strategy to ensure that available memory is only occupied by objects still useful for the current processes. This mechanism is called the GC.

When a new process is initialized, the CLR reserves a contiguous space in memory called...

Let’s look at some suggestions for writing more efficient and optimized code. One of the fundamental principles of writing code that efficiently uses your system resources is reducing object lifetimes. If we author code with this in mind, we can maximize resource utilization and guarantee smoother and more efficient applications.

We have just reviewed how the GC determines which objects should be cleaned from memory and which should stay for longer. We need to write our code to ensure that objects created for a purpose get marked for deletion once that purpose is fulfilled. As an object’s lifespan increases, its memory consumption grows over time. This increased consumption can give rise to issues such as memory leaks or unwarranted strain on the GC, leading to a decline in application performance. By proficiently handling object lifetimes and ensuring they persist only as long as essential, we can enhance memory efficiency...

In this chapter, we took a more intimate look at garbage collection, object allocation and deallocation, and some techniques for ensuring that we write efficient applications. Understanding object and reference lifespans in our system can help us, as developers, to make good decisions when authoring code.

We always want to ensure that, while the .NET runtime gives us a wonderful background tool to automatically clean up our mess at times, we do not create unnecessary mess as well.

The CLR manages how objects are allocated in memory and reserves a contiguous block for the application’s needs. In this contiguous block, objects are created and cleaned up based on the needs of the process in effect. The significant advantage of having a contiguous block reserved is that there is little to no fragmentation. This makes it easy to find references to objects when needed. This contiguous space is also called the managed heap, and the GC constantly polls this heap to find...