AI solution for Interview Question on BFE.dev
45. What is memory leak ? How to debug and prevent it?

Memory leak is a common issue in programming where the application continues to allocate memory without releasing it, causing the program to consume more and more memory over time. This can eventually lead to performance issues or even crashes.

Some common scenarios for memory leaks include:

• Unused variables still being referenced
• Not releasing resources after use, such as event handlers or database connections
• Recursive function calls that never terminate
• Storing data in global variables that are never cleared

JavaScript uses a technique called Garbage Collection to manage memory usage. This process automatically frees up memory that is no longer in use by the application. However, if there are memory leaks in the application, the Garbage Collector may not be able to clean up the memory, leading to the issue.

To prevent memory leaks, developers should make sure to properly dispose of any resources when they are no longer needed. They should also avoid using global variables and be careful with recursive functions.

To debug memory leaks in JavaScript applications, developers can use the Chrome Dev Tool Memory pane. This tool shows the memory usage of the application and can help identify any potential leaks. Developers can take heap snapshots, analyze them, and then pinpoint the cause of the issue. It's also important to monitor memory usage during development and testing to catch any issues early on.