How Many Objects Are Eligible For Garbage Collection?

Question

1.  public class Tahiti {
2.      Tahiti t;
3.      public static void main(String[] args) {
4.          Tahiti t = new Tahiti();
5.          Tahiti t2 = t.go(t);
6.          t2 = null;
7.          // more code here
8.      }
9.      Tahiti go(Tahiti t) {
10.         Tahiti t1 = new Tahiti(); Tahiti t2 = new Tahiti();
11.         t1.t = t2; t2.t = t1; t.t = t2;
12.         return t1;
13.     }
14. }

When line 7 is reached, how many objects are eligible for garbage collection?

as per the answer given for this question, there is no object eligible for GC at line 11; but according to me at least one object, t2, which is set to point null at line 6, should be eligible for garbage collection.

Answer 1

The variable t2 on line 6 is not the only reference to the object. There is a reference from t to the object t2 which was created in the function go which in turn holds a reference to t1 which is the same object that was returned by the function go. So line 6 merely reduces the number of references but there still are live references to the object.

EDIT: Let's try a more elaborate explanation, first I reworked the code a bit to make explaining easier. One statement per line and less confusing variable names + I identified the three relevant objects with the letters A, B and C.

1.  public class Tahiti {
2.      Tahiti u;
3.      public static void main(String[] args) {
4.          Tahiti t = new Tahiti(); // object A
5.          Tahiti t2 = t.go(t);
6.          t2 = null;
7.          // more code here
8.      }
9.      Tahiti go(Tahiti s) {
10.         Tahiti s1 = new Tahiti(); // object B
11.         Tahiti s2 = new Tahiti(); // object C
12.         s1.u = s2;
13.         s2.u = s1;
14.         s.u = s2;
15.         return s1;
16.     }
17. }

On line 4: variable t is initiliazed to reference a new object. Let's call that object itself A (it normally has no name in java but for the sake of this explanation it is easier if it does).

On line 5: t is passed to the function go so we go to line 9

On line 9: the parameter s references the object A which was created on line 4

line 10: initializes variable s1 to point to object B

line 11: initializes variable s2 to refer to object C

line 12: s1.u is set to refer to s2 which means object B gets a reference to C

line 13: s2.u is set to refer to s1 so object C get's a reference to B

line 14: s.u is set to refer s2 which means object A get's a reference to C note that C also has a reference to B so at this point there is a chain from A to B

line 15 return object B and return to line 5

line 5: t2 is set to reference object B (B is now referred to two times once directly by t2 and once because t refers to object A which refers to C which refers to B)

line 6: the reference t2 is set to null so B looses one reference but t is still live which point to A refers to C refers to B