Difference between DeadObjectException and causing a NullPointerException

Question

What's the difference between the DeadObjectException and a NullPointerException? I think I may understand but I just wanted to make sure.

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My Understanding

A DeadObjectException happens when you are trying to make a reference to something (and the memory still exists) but there aren't any pointers holding its address, so there's no way to reach that memory. It's different from a NullPointerException in the fact that the memory still is valid, there's just no way to reach it.

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Do I have the right idea? Based on other questions on the site:

• When android unbind a service I created
• Memory leaks in Android

I think my assertion is correct, I just wanted to make sure.

Answer 1

NullPointerException is when a reference doesn't point to any object within the same Java virtual machine.

DeadObjectException is when a you call a remote object that no longer exists. This happens on 2 different JVM.