What is the term for the process of identifying and deleting unnecessary objects or data variables to free memory?

The correct term for the process of identifying and deleting unnecessary objects or data variables to free memory is garbage collection. This process is essential in programming languages, particularly those that manage memory automatically, like Java or Python. Garbage collection helps to reclaim memory that is no longer in use, preventing memory leaks and optimizing performance.

When objects are no longer reachable or needed by the application, the garbage collector identifies them and cleans them up, allowing the memory they occupied to be reused for new objects. This automatic management reduces the burden on developers to manually free memory and helps maintain application stability and efficiency.

The other options refer to different concepts. For instance, memory management is a broader term that encompasses all techniques and strategies for managing memory allocation and deallocation in computer programs, not just the removal of unused objects. Cache clearing is specifically related to removing data stored in cache memory, which is different from the automatic cleanup process of garbage collection. Data scrubbing pertains more to the process of cleaning and refining data, often for data integrity or security purposes, rather than managing memory specifically.