What's the difference between this and a slab allocator? Is it just that the bin size distribution wastes less memory (assuming the slab allocator used pow2 bin sizes)?
Slab allocators don’t provide real time guarantees. That is arena allocators. The distinction may seem trivial but the requirements are distinct.
In tiny systems all allocations of one type may come from a single operation, but in larger systems what fits in a slab will come from distinct concerns with different priorities. You want a different arena for those allocations.
In tiny systems all allocations of one type may come from a single operation, but in larger systems what fits in a slab will come from distinct concerns with different priorities. You want a different arena for those allocations.