resource-management

name	resource-management
description	RAII (Resource Acquisition Is Initialization), cleanup patterns, resource leaks, and lifetime management.

Resource Management

Managing scarce resources (file handles, connections, memory) safely.

Context

You are managing resources safely. Follow RAII and cleanup patterns.

Domain Context

• RAII: Acquire in constructor, release in destructor; guarantees cleanup
• Cleanup: Ensure resources are freed even on exception
• Lifetimes: How long does a resource live? Who owns it?
• Scoping: Use scope to define resource lifetime

Instructions

1. Use RAII: Constructor acquires; destructor releases
2. Or Try-Finally: Explicit try/finally blocks for cleanup
3. Or Defer: Defer statements (Go, Rust) guarantee cleanup
4. Test Cleanup: Verify resources are freed on error paths
5. Avoid Leaks: Every allocation has a matching deallocation
6. Document Ownership: Who owns this resource? Who's responsible for cleanup?

Anti-Patterns

• Manual cleanup scattered throughout code; use RAII or defer
• Forgetting cleanup on error paths; use exception-safe code
• Unclear ownership; leads to double-free or use-after-free
• Resource pooling without cleanup; pools grow unbounded
• Holding resources longer than needed; tie lifetime to scope

Further Reading

• Herb Sutter, RAII (C++ resource management)
• Go documentation on defer statements
• Rust documentation on Drop trait and ownership