How can you have a memory leak in Java even with garbage collection?

Deep dive

Expanding on the short answer — what usually matters in practice:

• Context (tags): memory-leak, gc, references, caching
• JVM: memory (heap/stack), GC, and what drives latency.
• Contracts: equals/hashCode/toString, mutability and consequences.
• Performance: boxing, allocations, collections, inlining.
• Explain the "why", not just the "what" (intuition + consequences).
• Trade-offs: what you gain/lose (time, memory, complexity, risk).
• Edge cases: empty inputs, large inputs, invalid inputs, concurrency.

Examples

A tiny example (an explanation template):

// Example: discuss trade-offs for "how-can-you-have-a-memory-leak-in-java-even-with"
function explain() {
  // Start from the core idea:
  // GC frees only objects that are unreachable. If you keep references by mistake (e.g., a sta
}

Common pitfalls

• Too generic: no concrete trade-offs or examples.
• Mixing average-case and worst-case (e.g., complexity).
• Ignoring constraints: memory, concurrency, network/disk costs.

Interview follow-ups

• When would you choose an alternative and why?