When is an object declared and initialized in a local reference created in Java?

Question

If I have the following code:

public class Foo {

   private Object obj = new Object();

   public void bar() {
      final Object obj2 = new Object();
   }
}

• Am I correct in stating that when a new instance of Foo is created, the object referred to be obj will be instantiated?

• Also, will the object referred to be obj2 only be loaded by the the JVM when the method bar is pushed onto the stack (invoked)?

• Finally, local variables live on the stack, to am I also correct in saying that obj2 will live on the stack, while the object it refers to lives on the heap?

Answer 1

That is the case. Objects in scope of a method will be only instantiated when the method is called, while members of a class so declared will be instantiated when the object is constructed.