Re: realloc() - frequency, conditions, or experiences about relocation?

In sci.stat.math Anton Shepelev <anton.txt@g{oogle}mail.com> wrote:

[cross-posted to: ci.stat.math]
 
Malcolm McLean:
 

We have a continuously growing buffer, and we want the
best strategy for reallocations as the stream of
characters comes at us. So, given we now how many
characters have arrived, can we predict how many will
arrive,

 
Do you mean in the next bunch, or in total (till the end of
the buffer's lifetime)?
 

Isn't this a halting problem?  Aren't the more important data:
how much memory the user is allowed to allocate, the properties of
the current system's memory allocation algorithm, when your stream
will have to go to disc or other slow large volume storage, how
the stream can be compressed on the fly (the latter might well give
strong predictions for future storage requirements based on what
has been read to date).