What is the difference between malloc and calloc in C?

What is the difference between malloc and calloc in C?

Both malloc and calloc 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 malloc works with an example?

Sure! Malloc takes a single argument, the number of bytes to allocate. For example, int *arr = (int*)malloc(5 * sizeof(int)); allocates memory for an array of 5 integers.

What about calloc? How does it differ in usage?

Calloc takes two arguments: the number of elements and the size of each element. For example, int *arr = (int*)calloc(5, sizeof(int)); allocates memory for 5 integers and initializes them to zero.

Are there any performance differences between malloc and calloc?

Yes, calloc may be slightly slower than malloc because it initializes the allocated memory to zero. However, the difference is usually negligible unless you're allocating large amounts of memory.