Answer - Reference counting augments every object with a count of the number of times an object has been referenced. This count is incremented every time a reference to that object is made. Also every time a reference is destroyed the reference is decremented. This process is repeated till the reference count becomes zero. Once the reference count of an object reaches zero the object can be reclaimed. In this way, reference counting systems can perform automatic memory management by keeping a count in every object. Any object that does not have a reference count can be considered to be dead and that memory can be reclaimed. The reference counting method can fail to reclaim objects in case of cyclic references. There are no concrete ways to avoid this problem and it is always suggested to create an architecture that does not use a circular reference.