def METHOD_NAME(typecode_or_type, size_or_initializer):
    '''
    Returns a ctypes array allocated from shared memory
    '''
    type_ = typecode_to_type.get(typecode_or_type, typecode_or_type)
    if isinstance(size_or_initializer, int):
        type_ = type_ * size_or_initializer
        obj = _new_value(type_)
        ctypes.memset(ctypes.addressof(obj), 0, ctypes.sizeof(obj))
        return obj
    else:
        type_ = type_ * len(size_or_initializer)
        result = _new_value(type_)
        result.__init__(*size_or_initializer)
        return result