Instruction: Explain the concept of memory leaks in JavaScript and how they are dealt with.
Context: This question tests the candidate's knowledge of memory management and garbage collection in JavaScript.
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First, to clarify, a memory leak in the context of JavaScript occurs when a piece of memory that is no longer needed by the application is not released back to the memory pool. Over time, these leaks can accumulate, leading to decreased performance and even application crashes.
Modern JavaScript engines, such as Google's V8 (used in Chrome and Node.js), employ automatic garbage collection. This process aims to track and free memory that is no longer in use by the program. However, certain patterns and practices in JavaScript coding can inadvertently prevent the garbage collector from reclaiming this memory....