Are memory leaks possible in managed environments like .NET?

Question

In C++ it is easily possible to have a permanent memory leak - just allocate memory and don\'t release it:

new char; //permanent memory leak guaranteed
         


        

Answer 1

A simple answer is that classic memory leaks are impossible in GC environments, as classically a memory leak is leaked because, as an unreferenced block theres no way for the software to find it to clean it up.

On the other hand, a memory leak is any situation where the memory usage of a program has unbounded growth. This definition is useful when analyzing how software might fail when run as a service (where services are expected to run, perhaps for months at a time).

As such, any growable data structure that continues to hold onto references onto unneeded objects could cause service software to effectively fail because of address space exhaustion.