malloc vs new

[puzzlecracker]

Why is "new" a C++ language-level construct while "malloc" is a
library function?

 

[Gianni Mariani]

Why is "new" a C++ language-level construct while "malloc" is a
library function?

Firstly, don't compare malloc and new, they are very different.

new ends up calling the "operator new(...)" method to allocate memory
(like what malloc does) followed by a call to the appropriate
constructor. Also new is type-safe, yet malloc is not.

new can also be used to call just the constructor (using the placement
new syntax).

Other than that, it just IS that way.

I suspect you can emulate new using a template, e.g.

int * v = NewFunc< int >( 5 );

So, I think you might be able to do everything new does (except
placement new) with function calls, including array allocations.

I suspect this was a hang-over from simula or somthing.

 

[Tim Slattery]

Why is "new" a C++ language-level construct while "malloc" is a
library function?

"malloc" goes all the way back to C. All it does is allocate memory
and return a pointer to it. For whatever reason, the designers of the
C language implemented it as a standard library function.

"new" belongs to C++. It's function is to instantiate an object, by
allocating memory and calling the appropriate constructors. Seems
reasonable to me that this function is far more tied to the language
than something that simply allocates storage.