Memory Management
Memory management is a fundamental concept in computer science and programming that involves controlling and coordinating how a computer's memory is allocated, used, and freed during program execution. It ensures efficient use of memory resources, prevents issues like memory leaks and fragmentation, and is critical for system stability and performance. This includes techniques for dynamic memory allocation, garbage collection, and memory protection in various programming environments.
Developers should learn memory management to write efficient, reliable, and scalable software, especially in performance-critical applications like game development, embedded systems, and high-frequency trading. It is essential for languages like C and C++ where manual memory handling is required, and understanding it helps optimize resource usage in managed languages like Java or Python. Mastery prevents common bugs such as dangling pointers, buffer overflows, and memory exhaustion.