[Caml-list] Structural avoidance of memory leaks?

[David MENTRE <dmentre@linux-france.org>]

Hello Mr. Garrigue,

2011/2/9 Jacques Garrigue <garrigue@math.nagoya-u.ac.jp>:
> * Memory leaks: have to be careful that you are not referencing dead data, preventing the GC from freeing it.

I thought for a long time that having a GC would avoid any memory
leak. It appears that this is not the case. Java programmers are well
aware of the issue and apparently Haskell and OCaml programmers also.

Is there a documentation/paper/blog post/other somewhere that:
  * Explains where those memory leaks are coming from (i.e. more
precisely that "not referencing dead data")? Is there a taxonomy? Are
they tied to a specific language or are they generic to any language?
For example, in OCaml are memory leaks linked to imperative aspects or
can I have memory leaks using only purely functional aspects of the
language?

 * Tells me, as a practitioner, how to *structurally* avoid those
memory leaks? For example by avoiding some data structures or certain
kind of expressions.

Sincerely yours,
david