what is memory leak?

Question

what is memory leak?

Answer 1

when you allocate some memory and don't delete a memory leak occurs. It's called a leak because its just like a tap leak (waste of useful resource).

Answer 2

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_leak

Answer 3

YetAnotherCMemoryLeak:

void mem_leak() {
void *buf = malloc(1024);
}

The stack allocated pointer buf to the heap allocated memory (size: 1024 bytes) is lost when mem_leak() returns.