Is there an acceptable limit for memory leaks?

Question

I\'ve just started experimenting with SDL in C++, and I thought checking for memory leaks regularly may be a good habit to form early on.

With this in mind, I\'ve been

Answer 1

Most OSes (including Windows) will give back all of a program's allocated memory when the program is unloaded. This includes any memory which the program itself may have lost track of.

Given that, my usual theory is that it's perfectly fine to leak memory during startup, but not OK to do it during runtime.

So really the question isn't if you are leaking any memory, it is if you are continually leaking it during your program's runtime. If you use your program for a while, and no matter what you do it stays at 120 bytes lost rather than increasing, I'd say you have done great. Move on.