Reference Counting
Reference counting is a memory management technique used in programming languages and systems to automatically track the number of references to an object or resource. It increments a counter when a new reference is created and decrements it when a reference is destroyed, freeing the memory when the count reaches zero. This approach helps prevent memory leaks by ensuring that unused objects are promptly deallocated.
Developers should learn reference counting when working in languages like Python, Swift, or Objective-C, where it's a core part of automatic memory management, or when implementing resource management in systems programming. It's particularly useful for managing resources with clear ownership semantics, such as file handles or network connections, and in environments where deterministic cleanup is preferred over garbage collection pauses.