The Memory on the heap is traversed by the GC like a normal tree traversal and the unreachable parts of the memory would be automatically reclaimed (if the references dont exist on the main tree i.e.).
The singleton is a separate tree here and if its reference is not held by any other object references on the main line tree it is collected. hope this answers u r qn --Shankar -----Original Message----- From: Mary Dale [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2002 8:40 PM To: JDJList Subject: [jdjlist] Re: Heap Size of the JVM Do you know if the reference is in the object itself - as you might have for a static reference to a singleton, can it be garbage collected? Thanks Kevin Mukhar <kmukhar@earthli To: "JDJList" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> nk.net> cc: Subject: [jdjlist] Re: Heap Size of the JVM 06/25/2002 07:58 PM Please respond to "JDJList" Java exams wrote: > >-- Narasimhan Sethuraman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Setting objects as null will make the object > > eligible for GC > > That should read "may make". If there are other > references to the object ( perhaps another reference > to the exists in a Hashmap or Hashtable somewhere ), > it will only be eligible once all references to the > object have been cleared ( otherwise the object is > "retained" ). Actually, to be precise, the object becomes eligible for garbage collection when it becomes unreachable. One way to do this is to remove all references to the object. However, to use your example, one can have a reference stored in a Hashmap that is non-null, yet if all references to the Hashmap are removed, then the object in the Hashmap is unreachable and thus also eligible for garbage collection. To change your membership options, refer to: http://www.sys-con.com/java/list.cfm ******************* PLEASE NOTE ******************* This message, along with any attachments, may be confidential or legally privileged. It is intended only for the named person(s), who is/are the only authorized recipients. If this message has reached you in error, kindly destroy it without review and notify the sender immediately. Thank you for your help. ********************************************************** To change your membership options, refer to: http://www.sys-con.com/java/list.cfm To change your membership options, refer to: http://www.sys-con.com/java/list.cfm
