Does Leaked Memory Get Freed When a Program Terminates?

Memory Leaks and Program Termination

Often in programming, resources must be allocated and freed as needed. Failing to properly deallocate resources can lead to a memory leak, where allocated memory is no longer referenced by the program but remains occupied.

When a program terminates, is this leaked memory freed up?

Answer:

Yes. A "memory leak" refers to memory that a process no longer has a reference to and cannot free. However, the operating system (OS) retains a record of all memory allocated to a process and releases it upon termination.

This behavior is true for most common operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, and Solaris. However, it's worth noting that in certain specialized environments like Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOSs), memory may not be released when a program ends.

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