Does garbage collection guarantee that a program will not run out of memory

Garbage collection does not guarantee that a program will not run out of memory. It is possible for programs to use up memory resources faster than they are garbage collected. It is also possible for programs to create objects that are not subject to garbage collection.

No, garbage collection in Java does not guarantee that a program will not run out of memory. While garbage collection automatically reclaims memory occupied by unreferenced objects, it does not prevent memory leaks or guarantee that all objects will be collected immediately.

Memory leaks can occur if there are still references to objects that are logically no longer needed, preventing the garbage collector from reclaiming the associated memory. It’s the responsibility of the programmer to manage object references and ensure that unnecessary references are released.

Additionally, garbage collection is not always triggered immediately when an object becomes unreachable. The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) decides when to run the garbage collector based on various factors like memory usage, system performance, and garbage collection algorithms in use. This means that, in some cases, the program might temporarily use more memory than necessary before garbage collection occurs.

In summary, while garbage collection helps manage memory by automatically reclaiming unused objects, it does not provide an absolute guarantee that a program will not run out of memory. Proper memory management practices by the programmer are essential to avoid memory-related issues.