Before modifying initialization patterns or removing static variables, investigate the semantic meaning of undefined values and object lifetimes in the existing codebase. What appears to be a memory leak or improper initialization may be intentional design. Key considerations: - Static variables with process lifetime are not memory leaks - Undefined values (like `YGUndefined`) may be semantically different from zero initialization - Prefer proper C++ initialization over manual memory operations, but verify behavioral compatibility Example of proper investigation: ```cpp // Before changing this: static YGConfigRef defaultConfig = YGConfigNew(); // Not a leak - process lifetime // Or this: memset(&(node->getLayout()), 0, sizeof(YGLayout)); // Investigate: Does the constructor initialize differently? node->getLayout() = {}; // May initialize with YGUndefined instead of 0 // If tests break, understand why before forcing zero values ``` Always verify that your changes preserve the intended semantics, especially when dealing with undefined states, static lifetimes, or special sentinel values.