What is the difference between calloc and malloc?

What is the difference between calloc and malloc?

Both calloc and malloc are used for memory allocation in C, but they have key differences. Malloc allocates a specified number of bytes, while calloc allocates memory for an array of elements and initializes them to zero.

Can you explain how the syntax differs between the two?

Sure! The syntax for malloc is malloc(size_t size); where you specify the size in bytes. For calloc, it's calloc(size_t num, size_t size); where you specify the number of elements and the size of each element.

What happens if I don't initialize memory allocated by malloc?

If you don't initialize memory allocated by malloc, it contains garbage values, which can lead to undefined behavior if you try to use that memory.

Is it necessary to free the memory allocated by these functions?

Yes, it's essential to free the memory allocated by both malloc and calloc using the free() function to avoid memory leaks.