How can a memory leak be detected in an application?

Memory leaks can be detected using the following methods:

• Monitoring memory usage: Track the application's memory consumption over time using system tools (e.g., top, htop, Task Manager).
• Memory profiling: Use specialized profilers (e.g., Valgrind, VisualVM, Memory Profiler for Python) that show objects that are not released after use.
• Logging and analysis: Implement logs that record object creation and deletion to identify discrepancies.

Example for Python using tracemalloc:

import tracemalloc

tracemalloc.start()

# application code

snapshot = tracemalloc.take_snapshot()
top_stats = snapshot.statistics('lineno')

for stat in top_stats[:10]:
    print(stat)

This helps locate where memory is allocated but not freed.