Search code examples
javascripthtmlecmascript-5

JavaScript usage of new keyword and memory management

What is the basic difference between these two statements from the memory standpoint. Just want to know making objects with new does anything special about the memory allocation and garbage collection or both are identical. I have to load a huge binary data to an array so want to have an idea. Another question is can i force de-allocation of any memory from the JavaScript directly? like Gc.Collect() in c# or delete operator?

var x=8;
var y=new Number(8);

Thanks for your help in advance

Solution

  • Difference: none. As for forcing deallocation: no.

    (you can set all references to null; but that may be an unnecessary hint to the GC)

    Javascript is fully managed and doesn't provide an API like C# to "order" the GC to do stuff. Indeed, you may even find that some objects end up tied to the DOM and aren't deleted until their associated nodes are. And each browser is a different flavour.