Issue #21233: Add new C functions: PyMem_RawCalloc(), PyMem_Calloc(),

PyObject_Calloc(), _PyObject_GC_Calloc(). bytes(int) and bytearray(int) are now
using ``calloc()`` instead of ``malloc()`` for large objects which is faster
and use less memory (until the bytearray buffer is filled with data).

Doc/c-api/memory.rst

@@ -92,8 +92,8 @@ functions are thread-safe, the :term:`GIL <global interpreter lock>` does not
 need to be held.
 
 The default raw memory block allocator uses the following functions:
-:c:func:`malloc`, :c:func:`realloc` and :c:func:`free`; call ``malloc(1)`` when
-requesting zero bytes.
+:c:func:`malloc`, :c:func:`calloc`, :c:func:`realloc` and :c:func:`free`; call
+``malloc(1)`` (or ``calloc(1, 1)``) when requesting zero bytes.
 
 .. versionadded:: 3.4
 
@@ -106,6 +106,17 @@ requesting zero bytes.
    been initialized in any way.
 
 
+.. c:function:: void* PyMem_RawCalloc(size_t nelem, size_t elsize)
+
+   Allocates *nelem* elements each whose size in bytes is *elsize* and returns
+   a pointer of type :c:type:`void\*` to the allocated memory, or *NULL* if the
+   request fails. The memory is initialized to zeros. Requesting zero elements
+   or elements of size zero bytes returns a distinct non-*NULL* pointer if
+   possible, as if ``PyMem_RawCalloc(1, 1)`` had been called instead.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.5
+
+
 .. c:function:: void* PyMem_RawRealloc(void *p, size_t n)
 
    Resizes the memory block pointed to by *p* to *n* bytes. The contents will
@@ -136,8 +147,8 @@ behavior when requesting zero bytes, are available for allocating and releasing
 memory from the Python heap.
 
 The default memory block allocator uses the following functions:
-:c:func:`malloc`, :c:func:`realloc` and :c:func:`free`; call ``malloc(1)`` when
-requesting zero bytes.
+:c:func:`malloc`, :c:func:`calloc`, :c:func:`realloc` and :c:func:`free`; call
+``malloc(1)`` (or ``calloc(1, 1)``) when requesting zero bytes.
 
 .. warning::
 
@@ -152,6 +163,17 @@ requesting zero bytes.
    been called instead. The memory will not have been initialized in any way.
 
 
+.. c:function:: void* PyMem_Calloc(size_t nelem, size_t elsize)
+
+   Allocates *nelem* elements each whose size in bytes is *elsize* and returns
+   a pointer of type :c:type:`void\*` to the allocated memory, or *NULL* if the
+   request fails. The memory is initialized to zeros. Requesting zero elements
+   or elements of size zero bytes returns a distinct non-*NULL* pointer if
+   possible, as if ``PyMem_Calloc(1, 1)`` had been called instead.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.5
+
+
 .. c:function:: void* PyMem_Realloc(void *p, size_t n)
 
    Resizes the memory block pointed to by *p* to *n* bytes. The contents will be
@@ -222,11 +244,17 @@ Customize Memory Allocators
    +----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
    | ``void* malloc(void *ctx, size_t size)``                 | allocate a memory block               |
    +----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
+   | ``void* calloc(void *ctx, size_t nelem, size_t elsize)`` | allocate a memory block initialized   |
+   |                                                          | with zeros                            |
+   +----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
    | ``void* realloc(void *ctx, void *ptr, size_t new_size)`` | allocate or resize a memory block     |
    +----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
    | ``void free(void *ctx, void *ptr)``                      | free a memory block                   |
    +----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
 
+   .. versionchanged:: 3.5
+      Add a new field ``calloc``.
+
 .. c:type:: PyMemAllocatorDomain
 
    Enum used to identify an allocator domain. Domains:

Doc/whatsnew/3.5.rst

@@ -164,7 +164,10 @@ Optimizations
 
 Major performance enhancements have been added:
 
-* None yet.
+* Construction of ``bytes(int)`` and ``bytearray(int)`` (filled by zero bytes)
+  is faster and use less memory (until the bytearray buffer is filled with
+  data) for large objects. ``calloc()`` is used instead of ``malloc()`` to
+  allocate memory for these objects.
 
 
 Build and C API Changes
@@ -172,7 +175,12 @@ Build and C API Changes
 
 Changes to Python's build process and to the C API include:
 
-* None yet.
+* New ``calloc`` functions:
+
+  * :c:func:`PyMem_RawCalloc`
+  * :c:func:`PyMem_Calloc`
+  * :c:func:`PyObject_Calloc`
+  * :c:func:`_PyObject_GC_Calloc`
 
 
 Deprecated
@@ -209,6 +217,9 @@ Porting to Python 3.5
 This section lists previously described changes and other bugfixes
 that may require changes to your code.
 
+Changes in the Python API
+-------------------------
+
 * Before Python 3.5, a :class:`datetime.time` object was considered to be false
   if it represented midnight in UTC.  This behavior was considered obscure and
   error-prone and has been removed in Python 3.5.  See :issue:`13936` for full
@@ -217,3 +228,8 @@ that may require changes to your code.
 * :meth:`ssl.SSLSocket.send()` now raises either :exc:`ssl.SSLWantReadError`
   or :exc:`ssl.SSLWantWriteError` on a non-blocking socket if the operation
   would block. Previously, it would return 0.  See :issue:`20951`.
+
+Changes in the C API
+--------------------
+
+* The :c:type:`PyMemAllocator` structure has a new ``calloc`` field.