Reference Counting in Programming Languages

Reference counting is a method used by programming languages to manage memory. It keeps track of how many parts of a program are using a specific piece of data. Each time a reference to the data is created, the count increases; when a reference is removed, the count decreases. When the count reaches zero, meaning no one is using that data anymore, the system automatically frees up that memory. This helps ensure efficient use of resources and prevents memory leaks, but it can struggle with issues like circular references where data points to itself.