The argument that "modern desktops have lots of memory, so it doesn't matter how much we use" is, frankly bollocks.
Yes, your trivial bit of code is unlikely to cause a problem. However, in the real world, memory is finite, and systems are often multi user.
Sloppy habits are not excusable by saying "oh there's load of this resource, so we can waste it".
Usually there's a tradeoff between memory and CPU. If you're too enthusiastic about keeping memory to a minimum, you'll use more CPU. It is most definitely necessary to at least attempt to tidy up after yourself though.
Operating systems are good at cleaning up the mess left by an exiting program, but there's no reason to rely on that.
Sorry, I'll stop ranting. I see that attitude a fair amount, and then I get complaints about how foo server doesn't have enough memory/processor etc.

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