Resource 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