Is memory management in different languages similar enough to transfer my knowledge?

Question

I'm just starting to learn programming. And as of now, I know a tad bit of memory management in Objective-C. It wasn't easy learning it.

So, just out of curiosity, is the memory management employed in major languages like C, C++, Java, etc., in any way similar to what I've learned?

Answer 1

Memory management comes in two distinct flavours: unmanaged and managed.

Unmanaged is C/C++ where the programmer is responsible for memory allocation.

Managed is like Java/.Net, where memory is allocated for you but cleaned up by the virtual machine ("garbage collected").

Within those two flavours you will find many variations.

Answer 2

No, it can vary significantly between platforms - and even within the same platform, there can be various different options. (e.g. in C++, you can use auto pointers, a Boehm GC, etc.)

Java and .NET have mostly similar memory management, mind you.