The Emergence Machine

Memory Leak

abstract · Computing · Level 7 · E9

E9Cultures

Each concept here is mapped to its prerequisites — the ideas you'd need first to understand it — all the way down to four foundations: Space, Time, Energy, Pattern. Click any prerequisite to drill down, or scroll for the chain graph.

Trace. Question. Emerge.

Emergence definition

A memory leak is a persistent allocation of memory that remains inaccessible and unavailable for reuse due to failure to release or reclaim it after use, resulting in a change of state or condition, where the memory is no longer in a usable state.

Compare Memory Leak with…

Wiktionary senses

External reference — all senses of the word “memory leak” on Wiktionary. This atlas concept maps to only the slice of meaning relevant to the prerequisite graph.

Loading senses…

Source: Wiktionary — “memory leak”. Content available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Historical origin

Origin word
memory leak
Origin language
English

Prerequisite chain

Possible path of this concept down to the fundamental substrate.

thisfoundationsL7L6L5L4L3L2L1L0Memory LeakMemoryPerceptionRemainsHistoryOrganismCellRecordFormInformationLifePastChangeMatterPresentEnergyPatternSpaceTimeE1 concrete → E14 abstract

Neighborhood

Direct prerequisites above, concepts that depend on this one below.

thisprerequisitesMemory LeakL7RemainsL5MemoryL6E1 concrete → E14 abstract

In other languages

Prerequisites

What you need to understand first.

  • Remains L5 (requires)
    Memory leak: A persistent allocation of memory that remains inaccessible and unavailable for reuse due to failure to release or reclaim it after use.
  • Memory L6 (requires)
    A memory leak is a bug where a program fails to release memory no longer in use, causing gradual performance degradation and system instability.