Memory Management & Garbage Collection
What is a memory leak in JavaScript?
A memory leak in JavaScript is memory that's still being held despite no longer being needed: 1) It occurs when memory that's no longer required by the application remains allocated, 2) This is usually due to unintended references preventing garbage collection, 3) Memory leaks accumulate over time, gradually degrading application performance, 4) Common causes include forgotten event listeners, closures capturing large objects, timers not being cleared, and global variables, 5) While JavaScript has automatic garbage collection, it can only collect what's unreachable, 6) If objects are accidentally kept reachable, the garbage collector cannot reclaim them, 7) Long-running applications like SPAs are particularly susceptible to memory leaks, 8) Regular memory profiling is essential to identify and fix leaks in complex applications.