CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.net
user5630103
user5630103

Reputation:

Is an instance of a class kept in memory if I don't assign it?

Is it kept allocated in memory after the method is called?

private void AnyMethod()
{
  new AnotherClass().AnotherMethod();
}

Upvotes: 1

Views: 66

Answers (2)

Patrick Hofman
Patrick Hofman

Reputation: 156978

Well, it depends on what is inside the constructor and that method, but usually it isn't.

When the method call ends, the instantiated class doesn't have any references any more, so it can be garbage collected whenever the GC comes around, which may vary given GC settings and memory pressure.

It is possible though that you do something like this in your constructor or method, which will prevent the instance to go out of scope:

SomeExternalClass.SomeInstance = this;

Upvotes: 2

Darin Dimitrov
Darin Dimitrov

Reputation: 1038840

After the method is called, the instance on which this method was called falls out of scope (because it has no longer any references pointing to it), so it is eligible to garbage collection. So this instance will be kept in memory until the actual garbage collection occurs. The exact timing when this garbage collection will occur will of course depend on many properties of the runtime, like memory usage, ...

Upvotes: 3

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