What is the role of the heap in program memory management?

Heap — is a memory area used for dynamic memory allocation during program execution. In C#, objects created with the new operator are placed on the heap. Memory management on the heap is handled by the garbage collector, which automatically frees memory when objects become inaccessible.

The role of the heap in memory management:

• Allows creating objects with a dynamic lifetime.
• Provides flexible memory management without the need for manual deallocation.
• Stores objects that can be accessed from different parts of the program.

Example:

class Person {
    public string Name;
}

Person p = new Person(); // object is created on the heap
p.Name = "Ivan";

Here, the Person object is placed on the heap, and the variable p holds a reference to this object.