What is the diffrerence between System.gc() and Runtime.gc()

[nagaraj raja]

hai,
Plz explain What is the diffrerence between System.gc() and Runtime.gc()?

[Joe Sondow]

System.gc() is a static method which calls
Runtime.getRuntime().gc();

You can either call
System.gc();
or you can directly call
Runtime.getRuntime().gc();

They do the same thing.

Runtime.gc() won't compile because gc() is not a static method of Runtime.

[fred rosenberger]

But neither usually does much good. they are (from what i recall) SUGGESTIONS that the JVM might want to CONSIDER running the garbage collector. But the JVM is free to ignore you.