Add API function Dart_ZoneAllocate

runtime/include/dart_api.h

 // Copyright (c) 2012, the Dart project authors.  Please see the AUTHORS file
 // for details. All rights reserved. Use of this source code is governed by a
 // BSD-style license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
 
 #ifndef INCLUDE_DART_API_H_
 #define INCLUDE_DART_API_H_
 
 /** \mainpage Dart Embedding API Reference
  *
  * Dart is a class-based programming language for creating structured
@@ skipping 1792 matching lines @@
 // TODO(turnidge): Rename to Dart_LibrarySetNativeResolver?
 
 // --- Profiling support ----
 
 // External pprof support for gathering and dumping symbolic
 // information that can be used for better profile reports for
 // dynamically generated code.
 DART_EXPORT void Dart_InitPprofSupport();
 DART_EXPORT void Dart_GetPprofSymbolInfo(void** buffer, int* buffer_size);
 
+// --- Misc ----
+
+/**
+ * The Dart VM uses zone allocation for temporary structures. Zones
+ * support very fast allocation of small chunks of memory. The chunks
+ * cannot be deallocated individually, but instead zones support
+ * deallocating all chunks in one fast operation.
+ *
+ * This function makes it possible for the embedder to allocate
+ * temporary data in the VMs zone allocator.
+ *
+ * Zone allocation is possible:
+ *   1. when inside a scope where local handles can be allocated
+ *   2. when processing a message from a native port.
+ *
+ * \param size Size of the memory to allocate.
+ *
+ * \return A pointer to the allocated memory. NULL if allocation
+ *   failed. Failure might due to is no current VM zone.
+ */
+DART_EXPORT uint8_t* Dart_ZoneAllocate(intptr_t size);

[turnidge, 2012/02/16 17:54:56]

I would rename this to Dart_ScopeAllocate and move the function up to the
"Scopes" section directly after Dart_ExitScope.

It is worth pointing out that the memory will be reclaimed on the next call to
Dart_ExitScope or when the native port handler exits.

[Søren Gjesse, 2012/02/17 07:43:09]

Done.

+
 #endif  // INCLUDE_DART_API_H_