Strong references within weak references

Question

in Java, are strong references accessible from weakly reachable objects are considered as strong references?

Example :

• I can access X by a weak reference.
• I can access Y by a weak reference.
• I can access X by a pointer from Y.
• I can access Y by a pointer from X.

If there is no other pointer on X and Y, I would expect them to get garbage-collected. Am I wrong?

Answer 1

Even though the term strong reference is used, perhaps it is better to think in terms of reach-ability.

That is, if the object is strongly reachable from a root object it is not eligibility for reclamation -- otherwise, it is. A strong reference to an object only referenced through a weak reference is not strongly reachable. However, the strong reference is still a strong reference.

Happy coding.