Memory Arena

Definitions

1. A region-based memory allocation strategy where all allocations come from a single contiguous block and are freed together in bulk, eliminating per-object free overhead and fragmentation. Common in compilers, parsers, and game engines where allocation lifetimes are naturally grouped.

   In plain English: A big chunk of memory that many small allocations share, which gets thrown away all at once when you're done, making cleanup instant.

   Example: "Each HTTP request gets its own arena — when the response is sent, we free the entire arena in one shot instead of tracking individual allocations."

Related Terms

• Tail Call Optimization
• materialized view
• denormalization
• Allocator
• Jemalloc
• Object Pool
• Raw Pointer
• Stack Allocation
• Stack Memory
• Swappiness
• Virtual Address Space
• Weak Pointer