Abstract: The specification discloses a heap memory management system in which software streams remove and replace blocks of heap memory from the heap pile, managed in a linked list fashion, in a last-in/first-out fashion at the top of the list. A hardware device returns blocks of heap memory, and this return is to the end or bottom of the linked list. In this way, software streams may remove and return blocks of heap memory simultaneously with hardware devices returning blocks of heap memory.