C++ Placement New

What is placement new in C++?

• In some scenarios it becomes necessary to place objects at specified locations in memory. Placement new solves this problem.
• For example, there could be predefined memory pools in which certain objects need to be placed on creation.
• Placement new is achieved by overloading the new operator which takes more than one argument apart from the default size_t argument.

Demonstrate the usage of placement new

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class MyClass {
   
   public:

    // Placement new operator
    void* operator new (size_t sz, void* v) {
        cout << "Placement new invoked" << endl;
        return v;
    }

    ~MyClass() {
        // Cleanup
    }
};

int main()
{
    // Create a buffer to store the object
    int buffer[16];
    cout << "Starting address of my buffer = " << &buffer << endl;

    // Create the object. Use placement new
    MyClass* obj = new (buffer) MyClass();
    cout << "Location of my object = " << obj << endl;

    // Don't delete object created with placement delete
    // Call the destructor explicitly
    obj->~MyClass();
}

OUTPUT:

Starting address of my buffer = 0012FF4C
Placement new invoked
Location of my object = 0012FF4C