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How does Rust handle memory safety without a garbage collector?
Asked on Feb 16, 2026
Answer
Rust ensures memory safety without a garbage collector by using a system of ownership with rules that the compiler checks at compile time. This system is enforced through the concepts of ownership, borrowing, and lifetimes, which prevent data races, dangling pointers, and memory leaks.
Example Concept: Rust's ownership model assigns each piece of data a single owner, and when the owner goes out of scope, the data is automatically deallocated. Borrowing allows references to data without taking ownership, and lifetimes ensure that references are valid as long as they are used. The Rust compiler enforces these rules, ensuring memory safety by preventing invalid memory access at compile time.
Additional Comment:
- Ownership rules include a single owner per value, automatic deallocation, and no data races.
- Borrowing allows either multiple immutable references or one mutable reference at a time.
- Lifetimes are used to ensure references do not outlive the data they point to.
- Rust's borrow checker enforces these rules, preventing common memory errors.
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