Memory Leaks

What is Memory Leak?

Memory leaks occur when we allocate memory using new but forget to deallocate it before the pointer to this memory goes out of scope.

How does it occur?

Sometime we might remember to deallocate the memory but use the wrong delete syntax.

int *p1 = new int;
delete []p1;


int *p2 = new int[10];
delete p2;

This does not throw an error. But leaves both the variable and the array undeleted.

Arrays should use delete [] and varibales should use delete

What are the risks?

• Decrease the performance

• In worst case, no more space is left; program/system crashes

• More at risk: Video games, small embedded devices, device drivers, programs allocating and deallocating too frequently

References

• Memory leak - Wikipedia. (2007). Retrieved 24 May 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_leak

• Memory leak in C++ and How to avoid it?. (2019). Retrieved 24 May 2022, from https://iq.opengenus.org/memory-leak-in-cpp-and-how-to-avoid-it/