Allocating resources with the SDK macros

The Vertica SDK provides three macros to allocate memory:

• vt_alloc allocates a block of memory to fit a specific data type (vint, struct, etc.).

• vt_allocArray allocates a block of memory to hold an array of a specific data type.

• vt_allocSize allocates an arbitrarily-sized block of memory.

All of these macros allocate their memory from memory pools managed by Vertica. The main benefit of allowing Vertica to manage your UDx's memory is that the memory is automatically reclaimed after your UDx has finished. This ensures there is no memory leaks in your UDx.

Because Vertica frees this memory automatically, do not attempt to free any of the memory you allocate through any of these macros. Attempting to free this memory results in run-time errors.