Questions about memory leak

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#1

First code:

local rs = game:GetService("RunService")

local function wait(x)
    x = tonumber(x) or (1/30)
    local start = os.clock()
    while (os.clock() - start) < x do
        rs.Stepped:Wait()
    end
end

Second code:

local function wait(x)
    local rs = game:GetService("RunService")
    x = tonumber(x) or (1/30)
    local start = os.clock()
    while (os.clock() - start) < x do
        rs.Stepped:Wait()
    end
end

Will the first one cause memory leaks? Is that because the run service has a strong reference and is not being cleared?

Another:

while (true) do
    local a = workspace.A
    local pro = workspace.Pro
end

-- When the while loop ends

So my question, is will everything inside the while loop be cleared once it breaks?

Thank you for reading :smiley:

#2

First of all, you are overwriting a global named ‘wait’.

Secondly, you should always predefine variables if possible
(local rs = game:GetService("RunService")). Therefore, the first code block is more recommendable.

I do not see how this would cause memory leaks. You are not doing things like this:

-- Lets leak memory shall we
-- Not sure if this works though
local t = {1}
while wait() do
    table.insert(t, t)
end
1 Like
#3

Lua, and Luau have garbage collection which automatically clear out not used things, i would presume this to be a case which happens here. (garbage collection clears the unused variable after exiting the func)

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#4

Once the while loop ends, we set the t to nil and then will it be cleared from the memory?

#5

It was just an example where t keeps existing and becomes bigger and bigger. You should basically never have to worry about memory leakage, unless you are writing (intentionally) outrageous code like I did there. Lua and Luau do all of the cleaning for you. If you want to know more about this subject, I would recommend you to look into ‘Lua garbage collection’.

1 Like
#6

Not true, when working with events using Connect, memory leaks are very prevalent and a lot of people don’t know it’s happening. PSA: Connections can memory leak Instances!

1 Like