Memory Leak

Memory Leak:

• In computer science, a memory leak occurs when a computer program incorrectly manages memory allocations.
•  Memory leaks are often the cause of or a contributing factor to software aging.
• A memory leak can diminish the performance of the computer by reducing the amount of available memory.
• Eventually, in the worst case, too much of the available memory may become allocated and all or part of the system or device stops working correctly, the application fails, or the system slows down unacceptably due to thrashing.
•  In modern operating systems, normal memory used by an application is released when the application terminates. This means that a memory leak in a program that only runs for a short time may not be noticed and is rarely serious.

Leaks that are much more serious include:

• Where the program runs for an extended time and consumes additional memory over time, such as background tasks on servers.
• Where new memory is allocated frequently for one-time tasks, such as when rendering the frames of a computer game or animated video.
• Where the program is able to request memory - such as shared memory - that is not released, even when the program terminates.
• Where the leak occurs within the operating system or memory manager.