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From: Peter Duniho on 20 Feb 2010 20:14
Lew wrote:
> Eric Sosman wrote:
>> Where did you find the official Java definition of "memory
>> leak?" The word "leak" does not appear in the index of the JLS
>
> There is no official definition for "memory leak". However, you will
> observe that in the Java context the use of the term "memory leak" for
> packratting is nearly universal.

Why wouldn't it be? There are two schools of thought: that you can't
have a memory leak in Java; and that pack-ratting is the same as a
memory leak.

Those who follow the former school of thought are basically never going
to use the phrase "memory leak" in the context of Java, so of course in
the context of Java, uses of the phrase "memory leak" will most often
refer to pack-ratting.

That doesn't mean that Java practitioners universally agree that "memory
leak" means pack-ratting. It just means that only those who subscribe
to that view are likely to use the phrase "memory leak" in the context
of Java.

You can't look at the relative proportion of examples of the use of the
phrase "memory leak" to determine what the accepted meaning of it is,
because the meaning used is intrinsically tied to the way and frequency
the phrase is used. It's a Heisenberg definition, if you will. :)

Pete
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