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Everything about Memory leak

When a computer program fails to release unnecessary memory

In computer science, a memory leak is a type of resource leak that occurs when a computer program incorrectly manages memory allocations in a way that memory which is no longer needed is not released. A memory leak may also happen when an object is stored in memory but cannot be accessed by the running code. A memory leak has symptoms similar to a number of other problems and generally can only be diagnosed by a programmer with access to the program's source code. Wikipedia →

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

  1. Read the overview: Memory leakA 5-minute orientation
  2. Skim a recent paper: Application of long short-term memory recurrent neural networks for localisation of leak source using 3D computational fluid dynamicsInfluential work since 2022
  3. Pick up a classic book: Clarissa; or, The history of a young lady: comprehending the most important concerns of private life; and particularly shewing the distresses that may attend the misconduct both of parents and children, in relation to marriage ..The most-reprinted book on the subject
  4. Read the landmark paper: Memory leak analysis of mission-critical middlewareCited 36 times
  5. Go sideways: Unreachable memoryA closely related topic
  6. Go sideways: Resource acquisition is initializationA closely related topic

📖 Definitions

Noun Any of several faults in the memory allocation logic of a computer or program whereby parts of memory become hidden or unusable.

🗂️ The subject at a glance

  1. Effects
  2. Causes of serious leaks
  3. Programming issues
  4. Exploitation
  5. RAII
  6. Reference counting and cyclic references
  7. External detection
  8. Examples

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

🆕 Influential since 2022

📚 Books worth reading

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

🔗 Related topics