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Re: xctime()
From: |
Bruno Haible |
Subject: |
Re: xctime() |
Date: |
Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:09:36 +0100 |
User-agent: |
KMail/1.9.9 |
Robert Millan wrote:
> Ok then. But if I preallocate a buffer on the stack, then xctime() can't
> return it.
Of course it cannot return a pointer to an array in its own stack frame.
You want to write a function that executes strftime and returns its result
in freshly allocated memory. You can assume that
- 1 strftime call is pretty expensive, say, costs 100 units.
- 1 malloc or realloc call is pretty cheap, say, costs 5 units,
- copying memory around is very cheap, costs, say, 1 unit. (*)
You know that 99% of the time, the result will be less than 1024 bytes
long.
How do you write the function so that it minimizes the cost in the average
case?
Bruno
(*) These figures are only indicative. I haven't measured it concretely.