Related:

• memory smash: [XEROX PARC] n. Writing through a pointer that doesn't point to what you think it does.
  This occasionally reduces your machine to a rubble of bits....
• aliasing bug: n. A class of subtle programming errors that can arise in code that does dynamic allocation, esp.
  via `malloc(3)' or equivalent. If several pointers address (`aliases for') a given hunk of storage, it may happen that the storage is freed or reallocated (and thus moved) through one alias and then referenced through another, which may lead to subtle (and possibly intermittent) lossage depending on the state and the allocation history of the malloc {arena}....
• memory leak: n. An error in a program's dynamic-store allocation logic that causes it to fail to reclaim discarded memory, leading to eventual collapse due to memory exhaustion.
  Also (esp. at CMU) called {core leak}. These problems were severe on older machines with small, fixed-size address spaces, and special "leak detection" tools were commonly written to root them out....
• fandango on core: [UNIX/C hackers, from the Mexican dance] n.
  In C, a wild pointer that runs out of bounds, causing a {core dump}, or corrupts the `malloc(3)' {arena} in such a way as to cause mysterious failures later on, is sometimes said to have `done a fandango on core'....
• overrun screw: [C programming] n. A variety of {fandango on core} produced by scribbling past the end of an array (C implementations typically have no checks for this error).
  This is relatively benign and easy to spot if the array is static...
• aliasing bug n. A class of subtle programming errors that can arise in code that does dynamic allocation, esp.
  via malloc(3) or equivalent. If several pointers address (`aliases for') a given hunk of storage, it may happen that the storage is freed or reallocated (and thus moved) through one alias and then referenced through another, which may lead to subtle (and possibly intermittent) lossage depending on the state and the allocation history of the malloc arena....
• mash the stack: [C programming] n. To corrupt the execution stack by writing past the end of a local array or other data structure.
  Code that smashes the stack can cause a return from the routine to jump to a random address, resulting in some of the most insidious data-dependent bugs known to mankind....
• fandango on core n. [Unix/C hackers, from the Iberian dance] In C
  a wild pointer that runs out of bounds, causing a core dump, or corrupts the malloc(3) arena in such a way as to cause mysterious failures later on, is sometimes said to have `done a fandango on core'....
• memory leak n. An error in a program's dynamic-store allocation logic that causes it to fail to reclaim discarded memory, leading to eventual collapse due to memory exhaustion.
  Also (esp. at CMU) called core leak. These problems were severe on older machines with small, fixed-size address spaces, and special "leak detection" tools were commonly written to root them out....