Memory leak concept in C++ - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Memory Leak Concept

📖 Scenario: Imagine you are managing a small library system where you keep track of books using pointers. You want to learn how to properly allocate and free memory to avoid memory leaks, which happen when memory is not released after use.

🎯 Goal: Build a simple C++ program that creates a dynamic array of book titles, then properly frees the memory to prevent memory leaks.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a pointer to a dynamic array of strings for book titles

Set a variable for the number of books

Use a loop to assign book titles to the dynamic array

Properly free the allocated memory using delete[]

Print the book titles before freeing memory

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Managing memory properly is important in programs that use dynamic data, like games, databases, or any software that handles large or changing data sets.

💼 Career

Understanding memory leaks and how to prevent them is a key skill for software developers, especially those working with C++ or other low-level languages.

1

Create a dynamic array for book titles

Create an integer variable called numBooks and set it to 3. Then create a pointer called books that points to a dynamic array of std::string with size numBooks.

C++

#include 
#include 

int main() {
    int numBooks = 3;
    // Your code here
    return 0;
}

Need a hint?

Use new std::string[numBooks] to create the dynamic array.

2

Assign book titles to the dynamic array

Use a for loop with variable i from 0 to numBooks - 1 to assign these exact titles to books[i]: "C++ Basics", "Data Structures", "Algorithms".

C++

#include 
#include 

int main() {
    int numBooks = 3;
    std::string* books = new std::string[numBooks];
    // Your code here
    return 0;
}

Need a hint?

Use if or else if inside the loop to assign the correct title for each index.

3

Print the book titles

Use a for loop with variable i from 0 to numBooks - 1 to print each book title on its own line using std::cout.

C++

#include 
#include 

int main() {
    int numBooks = 3;
    std::string* books = new std::string[numBooks];
    for (int i = 0; i < numBooks; i++) {
        if (i == 0) books[i] = "C++ Basics";
        else if (i == 1) books[i] = "Data Structures";
        else if (i == 2) books[i] = "Algorithms";
    }
    // Your code here
    return 0;
}

Need a hint?

Use std::cout inside the loop to print each book title.

4

Free the allocated memory

Add the line delete[] books; before the return 0; statement to properly free the dynamic memory and avoid memory leaks.

C++

#include 
#include 

int main() {
    int numBooks = 3;
    std::string* books = new std::string[numBooks];
    for (int i = 0; i < numBooks; i++) {
        if (i == 0) books[i] = "C++ Basics";
        else if (i == 1) books[i] = "Data Structures";
        else if (i == 2) books[i] = "Algorithms";
    }
    for (int i = 0; i < numBooks; i++) {
        std::cout << books[i] << std::endl;
    }
    // Your code here
    return 0;
}

Need a hint?

Use delete[] to free the memory allocated with new[].