but I am not really sure that a free in a C program freeing some memory returns it to the OS.

I stand corrected. In C too, there is no guarantee memory will be returned to the system and make the program smaller.

From gnu libc free :

"Occasionally, free can actually return memory to the operating system and make the process smaller. Usually, all it can do is allow a later call to malloc to reuse the space. In the meantime, the space remains in your program as part of a free-list used internally by malloc."

So it seems that it is not just an interpreted language problem.

I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth.
Old Perl Programmer Haiku ................... flash japh

In reply to Re^3: Unexplained memory hogging by zentara
in thread Unexplained memory hogging by richardwfrancis

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