Re: dynamic memory in call_external

[David Foster <foster(at)bial1.ucsd.edu>]

Vapuser wrote:
> 
> I have someone in my office who wants to know:
> 
>  Is it advisable to create and destroy memory within a CALL_EXTERNAL
> routine?  (that is, can one safely use malloc and free?) Or must one
> make the routine(s) in question LINKIMAGE routines and the idl memory
> management routines (IDL_MEMAlloc, IDL_MEMfree and IDL_GetScratch)
> available in that environment.

I have used [m|c]alloc() and free() in CALL_EXTERNAL modules with no
problems, usually for relatively small chunks of memory. But of course
this is only for variables within the C module; you can't allocate
memory within the C module and pass it back to IDL.

Dave
-- 

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    David S. Foster         Univ. of California, San Diego
     Programmer/Analyst     Brain Image Analysis Laboratory
     foster@bial1.ucsd.edu  Department of Psychiatry
     (619) 622-5892         8950 Via La Jolla Drive, Suite 2240
                            La Jolla, CA  92037
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