Do you know what are Memory Leaks in C++ programming language? Have you ever thought about the process to deal with Memory Leaks in C & C ++ programming languages? Let us try to find out the process to avoid such mistakes while writing the programming.
But before we start writing about the memory leaks in C++ programming language, we need to know about it & its background.
What Are Memory Leaks In CPP? Read Below
The memory leak issue is associated with the Dynamic Memory Allocation process. In that process,
programmers manually allocate some memory inside the compiler. And those spaces remain the same after ending & closing the editor application as well.
In this way, many such waste blocks store one by one inside the memory. At last, any new program can’t able to execute as there is no space available. Such an issue is known as the Memroy Leak issue. After declaring any smart pointer, deallocate the memory for the future.
What Are The Disadvantage Of Memory Leaks In CPP?
Now, after having brief knowledge of the memory leaks in CPP, we need to find out some of its important disadvantages of it. Let us try to find out the below-mentioned disadvantages of memory leaks in CPP:
- The memory leaks in CPP will cause a shortage of memory in the computer. While compiling a program, you might find such errors where the problem is related to the memory.
- Sometimes, the program rejects to open in the compiler if there are memory leaks in the C++ programming language. the very first time, it will open without any issues. But if there are memory leaks in that program, it might deny opening the program.
- While running the program, you might come across a situation where the program gets crashes. It happens when all the remaining memory space in the computer is used by the memory.
What Is The Method To Detect Memory Leaks In C++? Get To Know
There is no special method present that will help to detect memory leaks in the C++ programming language. It is not an issue that is occurring due to some mechanical problem. Programmers forget to deallocate the memory that was allocated using dynamic memory allocation.
But below, we have defined one example that will help you to clarify the concept of how memory leakage has been done in C++ programs.
Example:
#include <bits/stdc++.h> using namespace std; void func(){ // User Defined Function To Identify Memory leak float* zap = new float(3.4); // Allocating Memory To The Float Pointer cout << "There Are Memory Leak";} // Printing Any Statement int main(){ func();return 0;} // Calling The User Defined Function
Confused by the code? No need to worry โ you can always enlist C++ skilled programming tutors for expert guidance.
Steps Of The Program:
1. In the user-defined function, one float pointer is declared. And for occupying the space, some values
are also provided there.
2. Now, the memory block will be created. We will print one statement to understand that.
3. We will close the function by deallocating the memory. And the user-defined function will be
called.
Let us try to find out the output of the above code. It will help to understand the process of memory leaks in the C++ programming language.
Output:
The above output clearly shows that the statement is printed successfully. So, the previous statement was also encountered.
As a result, inside the memory block, one false space is allocated which is doing nothing as smart pointers are not deallocated. So, it causes memory leakage.
What Are The Tips To Avoid Memory Leaks In C++?
Now, as we have understood the total process of memory leaks in C++ programming language, it is time to get some tips to avoid using memory leaks in C++ programming language.
Let us try to find out the tips that will help to remove memory leaks in the C++ programming language.
- Programmers need to use the smart pointer whenever there is a provision for it. Programmers need to reduce the work for memory management on their own. It will help a lot.
- Programmers need to use the std::string class more often whenever there is a need to handle the character elements. Programmers need to reduce the use of the char* pointer operations.
- The std::string class can be able to handle all the memory management on its own.
- Users can able to use the raw or new pointer whenever they are marking to any other old library of the C++ programming language.
- Programmers need to be very careful while doing such operations. You need to pay full attention to the code which you are writing with the help of the dynamic memory allocation process.
How To Deallocate Memory Leakage In C++?
There is a simple method present in the C++ programs which is to use the โdeleteโ keyword. If you are
familiar with the โfreeโ keyword inside of the C programs, you will get it easily. Any smart pointers declared with the help of the โnewโ keyword can be removed by โdeleteโ.
The ‘delete’ is the inbuild function present to do such tasks. Here, the name of the pointer will be shared as the argument to the function. Hence, the memory leaks in the C++ programming language will be removed now.
General Syntax: delete(pointer-name);
Program To Demonstrate The Delete Keyword:
#include <bits/stdc++.h> using namespace std; void func() // User Defined Function To Identify Memory leak { float* zap = new float(3.4); // Allocating Memory To The Float Pointer cout << "There Are Memory Leak"<<endl; // Printing Any Statement delete(zap); // Delete Function To Remove Memory cout << "Memory Leak Removed"; // Printing Any Statement } // Function Closed With Deallocation int main() // Main Function { func(); // Calling The User Defined Function return 0;}
Steps Of The Program:
1. At first, one user-defined function is implemented to show the memory leakage process.
2. Inside that, one float pointer is declared & some random value is also provided there. Also, one
statement is used to mark the pointer allocation.
3. After that, we will use the ‘delete’ syntax & remove the allocated memory space for the floating
pointer. We will also use one statement to show the completion of the operation.
Let us try to find out the output of the above code. It will help to understand the process to remove memory leaks in the C++ programming language.
Output:
From the above output, we can see that the first statement is used to mark the memory leakage inside the program. And the second statement is helped to know that the ‘delete’ keyword is encountered.
So, there will be no memory leakage present in the compiler. Because the declared pointer is now removed.
Conclusion:
As we saw, memory leaks in C++ programming language are a very important topic. We need to understand this topic to easily solve difficult issues without any problems.
It’s very important for us to first identify the place where such problems are arising. We need to clarify the concept of dynamic memory allocation before moving to this topic. As this topic is highly related to the dynamic memory allocation process.
It is advisable to clear the basic concept of dynamic memory allocation in C. We need to clear the concept of the pointers to have a good grip on this topic. We need to remember to remove the memory space from the programming after allocating that. It will help us in the future while developing big projects.