from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
memory leak
core leak
leaky heap
<programming> A {leak} in a program's {dynamic store}
allocation logic that causes it to fail to reclaim memory in
the {heap} after it has finished using it, eventually causing
the program to fail due to lack of memory.
These problems were severe on older machines with small,
fixed-size address spaces, and special "leak detection" tools
were written to diagnose them.
The introduction of {virtual memory} made memory leaks a less
serious problem, although if you run out of {virtual
memory}, it means you've got a *real* leak!
See {aliasing bug}.
[{Jargon File}]
(2003-10-07)