How does Garbage Collection in Java work?

Question

I was wondering how the garbage collector in Java deals with the following situation.

Object A has a reference to Object B and Object B has a reference to Object C. The main program has a reference to Object A. So you can use Object B trough Object A, and Object C trough Object B trough Object A.

What happens to Object B and Object C, if the link between Object A and Object B is set to null?

Should Object B and Object C now been collected by the Garbage Collector? I mean there is still a connection between Object B and Object C.

Answer 1

Should Object B and Object C now been collected by the Garbage Collector?

Yes. Well, they are candidates for collection because there's no way to reach Object B and C through the root that is A.

Answer 2

Yes, B and C are eligible for garbage collection, if they can't be reached from any GC root (GC roots are usually all Threads and all references on the stack).