Bjarne Stroustrup: How to Deal with Memory Leaks? By Writing Code That Has None

Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++, has once again reminded us that the best way to deal with memory leaks is to not have them in the first place. In his FAQ, when asked "How do I deal with memory leaks?", he replies with brutal logic: "By writing code that doesn't have any." It sounds like "How to avoid losing the lottery? Don't buy tickets," but there's deep engineering wisdom behind it.

Stroustrup advocates using RAII (Resource Acquisition Is Initialization) and smart pointers, which automatically release memory. It's like hiring a robot butler who cleans up after you instead of running around with a rag after every meal. In C++11 and later, std::unique_ptr and std::shared_ptr make leaks virtually impossible — unless you insist on raw new/delete.

Of course, beginners often ignore this advice, preferring manual memory management as if they were writing C, not C++. Then they wonder why valgrind shows red lines. But Stroustrup is relentless: "If you use raw pointers and manual memory management, you are your own worst enemy" (paraphrased).

In fact, his approach is not just philosophy but a practical tool. Modern C++ with its containers and smart pointers lets you write code that's hard to break. It's like instead of learning to juggle flaming torches, you just turn on the light. Why overcomplicate?

METABYTE studio comment: We agree that the best defense against bugs is not having them. But if you do have legacy code with leaks, we can help refactor it — no magic, just smart pointers.