Difference between malloc and calloc?

Question

What is the difference between doing:

ptr = (char **) malloc (MAXELEMS * sizeof(char *));

or:

ptr = (char **) calloc (MAXEL         


        

Answer 1

Number of blocks:
malloc() assigns single block of requested memory,
calloc() assigns multiple blocks of the requested memory

Initialization:
malloc() - doesn't clear and initialize the allocated memory.
calloc() - initializes the allocated memory by zero.

Speed:
malloc() is fast.
calloc() is slower than malloc().

Arguments & Syntax:
malloc() takes 1 argument:

1. bytes

   • The number of bytes to be allocated

calloc() takes 2 arguments:

1. length

   • the number of blocks of memory to be allocated

2. bytes

   • the number of bytes to be allocated at each block of memory

void *malloc(size_t bytes);         
void *calloc(size_t length, size_t bytes);      

Manner of memory Allocation:
The malloc function assigns memory of the desired 'size' from the available heap.
The calloc function assigns memory that is the size of what’s equal to ‘num *size’.

Meaning on name:
The name malloc means "memory allocation".
The name calloc means "contiguous allocation".