[SDL] ot - memory leaks

[Patricia Curtis]

My approach to memory for any game is i don't create and destroy
memory, the only place i use a malloc is to allocate strings with
pointers for my help and other text, file.

char * StringTable[MAX_STRINGS] ;

read a line

StringTable[ThisString]  =   (char*)malloc(StringLength);
StringCopy(ReadLine,StringTable[ThisString] ) ;

loop untill all strings are read.........

Then at the end of the game i simply

for(int s=0;s<MAX_STRINGS;s++)
{
       if(StringTable[s] )
       {
             free(StringTable[s]);
       }
}

For game objects and what have you, i define an Array of max objects

#typedef struct
{
      bool   Active;
      int      NextObject;
      int      PrevObject;
.... other stuff
}Shape;

Shape    GameShapes[MAXBALLS];

Then when i want to create a new object (Shape) i simply find the
first empty Object in my Array by checking the Active flag with a
simple FOR NEXT LOOP which returns the number of the object in the
array.

Then link it using the Next and Prev ints,

insertBeginning(int newObject);

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linked_list for info on linked lists.

Then in my loops for drawing and moving the objects i just use

int  Ball = FirstLink;
while(Ball!=LAST_LINK)
{
// some code
         Ball = GameShapes[Ball].NextLink;
}

Now yes its not pointers and yes its not OO code but it guarantees
that my games don't have memory leaks because i know how much memory
it needs and is using.

it is also faster as there is no garbage collection and each object is
reused over and over.

I have used this method in almost every one my 29 games and it works.

At the end of the day most of us are writing games, and we are not
working for NASA, we want speed not technically perfect code.

Trish x