The malloc() routine in the C standard library uses the sbrk() Unix/Linux kernel call to allocate space for the heap. If the default heap was 10000 bytes, for example, and if heapptr was the pointer to the start of the heap, then it would use heapptr=sbrk(10000) to initialize the heap pointer.

Suppose you used sbrk() instead of malloc()to allocate memory for dynamically created objects in your application. Assume you make this change, without making any other changes, and your code still works. Also assume that your program uses large numbers of small objects.

a) There must be some heap manager function your code did not use. What function?

b) Given what you know about how the memory management unit and the implementation of the data segment in modern Unix/Linux systems, what can you conclude about the efficiency of your program after you make the changes described here?