Allocation

Allocation means reserving memory space to hold some data.

Related concepts:  ValueGarbage Collection

Closest Wikipedia entry:  Memory management — Memory management is a form of resource management applied to computer memory. The essential requirement of memory management is to provide ways to dynamically allocate portions of memory to programs at their request, and free it for reuse when no longer needed. This is critical to any advanced computer system where more than a single process might be underway at any time.Several methods have been devised that increase the effectiveness of memory management.

Misconceptions about Allocation

13 documented Misconceptions

AddMemberAtRuntime — Java

Set of class members can change at runtime

ArrayAllocationWithoutNew — Java

Arrays are created without the new keyword

ArrayBracketCountIsLength — Java

The number of brackets in an array type or an array initializer corresponds to the length of the array

ArraysGrow — Java

Arrays can grow dynamically

AssignmentCopiesObject — Python

Assignment copies the object

ConstructorAllocates — Java

The constructor allocates the object

ConstructorReturnsObject — Java

Constructors need to return objects

ConstructorWithoutNew — Java

One can write the constructor name, without new, to instantiate a class

InitCreates — Python

__init__ must create a new object

InitReturnsObject — Python

__init__ needs to return an object

ObjectsMustBeNamed — Java

A variable is needed to instantiate an object

ObjectsMustBeNamed — Python

A variable is needed to instantiate an object

SuperclassObjectAllocated — Java

When instantiating an object of a subclass, an object of a superclass is also allocated