Reference Strengths
Explore how different Java reference strengths—strong, soft, weak, and phantom—impact object eligibility for garbage collection. Understand how to use these references to manage memory effectively and ensure safe resource cleanup in Java applications, avoiding issues with deprecated finalization.
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Java usually manages memory automatically. However, we can influence when objects become eligible for garbage collection by using different reference strengths. Ordinary Java references are strong references by default. Soft references may be cleared in response to memory pressure, weak references may be cleared when an object is only weakly reachable, and phantom references support post-mortem ...
What are the different reference types in Java?
What is a strong reference?
What are weak references?