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Memory Checker Tools For C++?

Posted by kdawson on from the heaps-and-bounds dept.

An anonymous reader writes "These newfangled memory-managed languages like Java and C# leave an old C++ dev like me feeling like I am missing the love. Are there any good C++ tools out there that do really good memory validation and heap checking? I have used BoundsChecker but I was looking for something a little faster. For my problem I happen to need something that will work on Windows XP 64. It's a legacy app so I can't just use Boosts' uber nifty shared_ptr. Thanks for any ideas."

3 of 398 comments (clear)

  1. Fluid Studio's Memory Manager (MMGR) by Rezonant · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yep, Paul Nettle's little memory manager rocks. It WILL find leaks in your program. http://www.paulnettle.com/ (Yes, you have to navigate through a horrible flash site to get it, but it's worth it).

  2. Re:Boost? Ugh by pzs · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I would be inclined to agree with this. I used the Boost Graph Library for some research code a few years ago. It's been designed to be extremely generic, which although a good thing sometimes makes it pretty difficult to just start coding something without all the bells and whistles. For operations on graphs, such as walking through, you can use their specialised functions for doing things but it takes days and days to work out how to use them and I ended up just using regular loops because they were much easier to understand.

    Getting it to compile was a bit of a nightmare too. It has its own native compilation management tool that you have to download as well. What the hell is wrong with using make like everybody else? It also uses a very complex template hierarchy that produces terrifying error messages.

    I'm sure that once you become an expert, BGL is really powerful and efficient, but I found the learning curve too steep. I just want to get in and build a working prototype quickly so I can see what I'm doing, not spend hours wading through manuals and examples to build the simplest program.

    I'll be with the parent post and get modded a troll by boost developers.

    Peter

  3. eFence by cannonfodda · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I haven't used it for a while, but I used to use Bruce Peren's efence for bits of malloc debugging, it hasn't been actively developed for ages but it's pretty light weight if that's what you need. There appears to be an up to date branch DUMA which I haven't tried. As far as I remember you can use efence under WIN and DUMA claims to work......

    Unfortunately, what you prolly want is valgrind or purify.

    --
    Hmmmmmm