What is manual memory management in programming?

What is manual memory management in programming?

Manual memory management refers to the process where programmers allocate and free memory explicitly, rather than relying on automatic garbage collection.

Why would a programmer choose manual memory management over automatic?

Programmers might choose manual memory management for better control over memory usage, performance optimization, and to avoid the overhead of garbage collection.

What are some common techniques used in manual memory management?

Common techniques include using functions like malloc and free in C, or new and delete in C++, to allocate and deallocate memory.

What are the risks associated with manual memory management?

Risks include memory leaks, where memory is not freed, and dangling pointers, which occur when memory is freed but still accessed.