CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javagarbage-collectionlinked-list
quartaela
quartaela

Reputation: 2757

about garbage collector when deleting a node from LinkedList

this is a sample code from delete function in my LinkedList class which deletes a node from middle.

        temp.getPrev().setNext(temp.getNext());
        temp.getNext().setPrev(temp.getPrev());
        temp.setNext(null);
        temp.setPrev(null);

my question is do i have to set temps next and prev references to null or does garbage collector handle with this automatically_?. i will appreciated very much if you can help me. and thanks anyway.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 2620

Answers (6)

Andy Thomas
Andy Thomas

Reputation: 86509

my question is do i have to set temps next and prev references to null or does garbage collector handle with this automatically_?

You do not have to set references in an object's fields to null before it becomes unreachable.

Nor will the garbage collector set them to null for you.

But a reference to an object from an unreachable object does not prevent garbage collection.

So if later on the only references to the next (or previous) node are from other unreachable nodes, then that node can be collected.

Upvotes: 0

Jan Henke
Jan Henke

Reputation: 875

The GC only takes references to an object in consideration. It does not matter if the object has references to other objects.

Upvotes: 1

omnomnom
omnomnom

Reputation: 9149

Garbage Collector analyze if there is any reference to an object. Since there is no reference to temp after your method is finished, GC should remove this object.

Upvotes: 4

JProgrammer
JProgrammer

Reputation: 1135

You have to make sure that there are no live references to temp. You don't need to do anything extra.

Upvotes: 1

Bozho
Bozho

Reputation: 597382

I don't think you should. The node is no longer referenced anywhere, so even though it references valid objects, it will be garbage-collected.

Upvotes: 1

Emil Vikström
Emil Vikström

Reputation: 91983

The garbage collector will see when there's no references left to temp. Therefore you don't have to care about nulling outgoing references - if you can't reach temp anymore it will be garbage collected (eventually).

Upvotes: 1

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