Allocating and deallocating unmanaged memory

As we have seen since Chapter 1, .NET runtime handles most memory management tasks through the built-in GC, freeing developers from the chores of manual memory allocation and deallocation. Managed memory offers several advantages, including ease of use, safety from common errors such as buffer overflows, and reduced memory leaks. While the benefits of relying on the automatic management of memory are clear, in this chapter, we are taking a step back to explore when more than reliance on this mechanism might be required. While the GC is convenient, it can lead to inefficiencies and performance issues.

Recall that the GC is responsible for automatic memory management in .NET. It tracks object references, identifies unused objects, and reclaims memory. The GC operates in multiple generations:

• Generation 0: Short-lived objects
• Generation 1: Objects that survive a Generation 0 collection
• Generation 2: Long-lived objects
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