eligible for GC

[neeraj nandwana]

  
 
class CardBoard {
Short story = 5;
CardBoard go(CardBoard cb) {
cb = null;
return cb;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
CardBoard c1 = new CardBoard();
CardBoard c2 = new CardBoard();
CardBoard c3 = c1.go(c2);
c1 = null;
// do Stuff
} }  

and the Answer is: Only one CardBoard object (c1) is eligible, but it has an associated Short wrapper object that is also eligible

why "c3" not eligible for GC?
Object "c3" is also have the null value.

[srinivas sridaragaddi]

hi,

Object c2 is passed as a parameter through go method and assigned a null value. In turn c3 is also assigned a null value but it is still having a reference through object c2 only. so c3 is not eligible for GC. only c1 which is assigned a null in main method is eligible for GC.

Hope this will help you.

[neeraj nandwana]

hi srinivas
thanks for your help. But i am still confuse.
because c3 hold the null value, and i think It is not mater through which reference it got the value only mater the value, it hold at run time.

[Kota li]

Originally posted by neeraj nandwana:

  
 
class CardBoard {
Short story = 5;
CardBoard go(CardBoard cb) {
cb = null;
return cb;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
CardBoard c1 = new CardBoard();
CardBoard c2 = new CardBoard();
CardBoard c3 = c1.go(c2);
c1 = null;
// do Stuff
} }  

and the Answer is: Only one CardBoard object (c1) is eligible, but it has an associated Short wrapper object that is also eligible

why "c3" not eligible for GC?
Object "c3" is also have the null value.

[Kota li]

Originally posted by neeraj nandwana:

  
 
class CardBoard {
Short story = 5;
CardBoard go(CardBoard cb) {
cb = null;
return cb;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
CardBoard c1 = new CardBoard();
CardBoard c2 = new CardBoard();
CardBoard c3 = c1.go(c2);
c1 = null;
// do Stuff
} }  

and the Answer is: Only one CardBoard object (c1) is eligible, but it has an associated Short wrapper object that is also eligible

why "c3" not eligible for GC?
Object "c3" is also have the null value.

Whyit it is not eligible means after assignment c3 c1 is null. i.e that is problem

[Kota li]

Originally posted by neeraj nandwana:
hi srinivas
thanks for your help. But i am still confuse.
because c3 hold the null value, and i think It is not mater through which reference it got the value only mater the value, it hold at run time.

after assignment c3 is.
and c1 is null

[ahmed yehia]

This example is taken from K&B and is corrected in the errata:

    
class CardBoard {
Short story = [B]200[/B];
CardBoard go(CardBoard cb) {
cb = null;
return cb;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
CardBoard c1 = new CardBoard();
CardBoard c2 = new CardBoard();
CardBoard c3 = c1.go(c2);
c1 = null;
// do Stuff
}
}

In this case 2 Objects are eligible for GC(1 CardBoard(c1), 1 Short).

if Short was less than or equal 127 then c2 would also contain it hence not eligible for GC.

[Ajay Chandravadiya]

Original problem seems to be like this...

C3 = C1.go(C2); // which returns null
Hence, C3 was NEVER assigned to a New Object!

so Total Objects created were C1, C2 , Short C1.short , C2.short.

When we said C1= null, we removed C1 (and C1.short ) references.

But C1.short = 5 = C2.short (as -128 to 127 wrapper objects refer to a unique object of that value)

Hence, Total Objects un-referred= C1 only.

bingo

[fred rosenberger]

there is a difference between OBJECTS and REFERENCES. c1, c2 and c3 are references. they can and do exists independantly of objects. if you write:

Cardboard c1;

you have created a reference with no associated object. So, in the sample code provided, you create the two references c1 and c2, and create an associated object for each. The line:

CardBoard c3 = c1.go(c2);

created a new reference, but no object. only two objects have been created.

you then set c1 to null. c1 is not eligible for gc, but the object it USED to point to is. "c3" is NOT an object, and is not eligible for gc.

[neeraj nandwana]

Ok that�s the problem

C3 = C1.go(C2); // which returns null
Hence, C3 was NEVER assigned to a New Object!

Thanks for your help

[Mehdi Ben Larbi]

I am having a LOT of trouble with GC,i don't understand why the C2 isn't eligible for GC after the go method ?
Thanks.

[sumit kothalikar]

the go() method returns what cb is pointing to ,but here cb is pointing to null.
and in the main method c3 points to what go() method returns

now her c3 is pointing to null

c3 ----> null

reference variable pointing towards null does not mean it is eligible for garbage collection

here c3 is not pointing to any object no object is created so there will no object eligible for garbage collection.

i hope this helps

[Mehdi Ben Larbi]

Yes it helps,thanks but C2 is also null after the go method.
Aren't we in the case 'Islands of Isolation' ?

[Dieter Quickfend]

c2 is not null after the go method. c2 the reference variable is copied as a parameter into the go method, and that parameter is set to null, but c2 still points to its assigned object.

[Vinoth Kumar Kannan]

Dieter Quickfend wrote:c2 is not null after the go method. c2 the reference variable is copied as a parameter into the go method, and that parameter is set to null, but c2 still points to its assigned object.

c2 is not copied. By default java passes objects by-reference and not by-value. So, I too feel, c2=null and c1=null => objects referenced by c1 & c2 must be eligible for GC.

[Tareq Ateik]

ahmed yehia wrote:This example is taken from K&B and is corrected in the errata:

    
class CardBoard {
Short story = [B]200[/B];
CardBoard go(CardBoard cb) {
cb = null;
return cb;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
CardBoard c1 = new CardBoard();
CardBoard c2 = new CardBoard();
CardBoard c3 = c1.go(c2);
c1 = null;
// do Stuff
}
}

In this case 2 Objects are eligible for GC(1 CardBoard(c1), 1 Short).

if Short was less than or equal 127 then c2 would also contain it hence not eligible for GC.

i just want to clarify something, only one object is eligible for GC, and its just the CardBoard c1 , NOT the Short object, as the other c2 holds the same value of the short.
i know that sounds weird, but that happens to save memory.

also Short object can hold 2^16 which means more than 65000, i think you meant Byte object.

[Vinoth Kumar Kannan]

What about c2 then, isnt assigning null to c2 mean the object it was pointing to previously, eligible for GC?

[Tareq Ateik]

Vinoth Kumar Kannan wrote:What about c2 then, isnt assigning null to c2 mean the object it was pointing to previously, eligible for GC?

this question was answered before if you look up, but ill say it again.

when the c1.go(c2) was executed, what happens actully in that method is the c2 value was copied to cb of the go method.
in this moment, two references point to that object, c2 & cb,
then the method took cb and destroyed it, but we still have c2!!

its something like this:

 
CardBoard c2 = new CardBoard(); // only one object refers to the object

CardBoard cb = c2;                      // now we are inside the go method
cb= null;                                     // cb is destroyed, but the JVM realizes that c2 still
                                                  // points to the object, so its not eligible for GC   

you just have to think like the java compiler, the methods take "COPY" of the parameter, not the parameter itself
i hope its clear now

[Mehdi Ben Larbi]

Yeah it's much better,thanks a lot.

[Dieter Quickfend]

Vinoth Kumar Kannan wrote:

Dieter Quickfend wrote:c2 is not null after the go method. c2 the reference variable is copied as a parameter into the go method, and that parameter is set to null, but c2 still points to its assigned object.

c2 is not copied. By default java passes objects by-reference and not by-value. So, I too feel, c2=null and c1=null => objects referenced by c1 & c2 must be eligible for GC.

No, Java passes variables by value, ALWAYS. If the variable is a primitive, it passes the primitive's value, if the variable is a reference, it passes the reference value, which is the reference to the object in memory.

So you could say it passes Objects by reference - it never passes the object itself.. But it passes variables by value - the value of a primitive, the value or, if you will, memory address, of the reference variable.

[Vinoth Kumar Kannan]

Oh..great! I was assuming myself that primitives were passed by-value and Objects were passed by-reference. Thanks for pointing it out Dieter and Tariq.
I happened to come across this link - http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/javaqa/2000-05/03-qa-0526-pass.html which explains this much better. Thought it might be helpful to someone..