Memory leaks
The memory leak process is a gradual increase in the amount of RAM consumed by a running program. Typically, it is the result of an error in the program, due to which unused memory is not released.
Memory leaks are especially dangerous in programs that run for a long time without rebooting. In this case, after some time, such a program may exhaust all available RAM, which will lead to an emergency stop of the program or, even worse, to incorrect operation.
There are the following ways to prevent memory leaks:
- Using garbage collectors that free up unused memory, but at the same time take up some of the system's resources for their work, which leads to slowdowns or freezes.
- Restarting the program using an external program, as a result of which, after the program finishes, all memory is returned to the system again and the leaks become less extensive.
- Refusal of dynamic memory allocation, which in turn eliminates such errors, but also limits the functionality of programs.
- Using owned pointers to align the lifetime of a pointer with the lifetime of the object it refers to. However, this method is not suitable for circular references between objects.
See also
-
runtime period,
during which the program is executed -
Initial data,
which represent the location of the data -
a set of software programs,
which ensures the functioning of applications -
a set of OS programs,
which provides control over computer systems