try / finally block question

Question

Found this question here

And I can't understand, why on first case it prints CoolReturn+1 and on second case CoolReturn? How does it work?

Thanks

====================

What will be printed?

public void testFinally(){
    System.out.println(setOne().toString());

}

protected StringBuilder setOne(){
    StringBuilder builder=new StringBuilder();
    try{
        builder.append("Cool");
        return builder.append("Return");
    }finally{
        builder.append("+1");
    }
}

Answer: CoolReturn+1

A bit more difficult:

public void testFinally(){
    System.out.println(setOne().toString());

}

protected StringBuilder setOne(){
    StringBuilder builder=new StringBuilder();
    try{
        builder.append("Cool");
        return builder.append("Return");
    }finally{
        builder=null;  /* ;) */
    }
}

Answer: CoolReturn

Answer 1

Consider

protected StringBuilder setOne(){
    StringBuilder builder=new StringBuilder();
    try{
        builder.append("Cool");
        return builder.append("Return");
    }finally{
        builder.append("+1");
    }
}

as

protected StringBuilder setOne(){
    StringBuilder builder=new StringBuilder();
    try{
        builder.append("Cool");
        StringBuilder ret = builder.append("Return"); // 1
        return ret; // 2
    }finally{
        builder.append("+1"); //3
    }
}

line 1 is executed, the builder is returned as result. Then line 3 is executed, and the builder gets appended by +1, then the ret is returned which is a "reference" to the object referenced by builder. The same is for the second case. Hope it is clear.

Answer 2

The first one:

The finally will always fire (assuming the machien doesn't crash or anything). So after the return, the finally block fires, and since it has a reference to the object "builder", it appends the extra token to it.

The second one:

The finally block fires just like before, but it sets the reference to builder to be null. The object still exists, because it still has a link to it.

Answer 3

When it does return builder.append("Return") a copy of the reference to the builder variable is pushed onto the stack. Then builder is set to null. The caller then pops the copy of the reference off the stack.

Answer 4

In the first example, in the finally block, you manipulate the string builder with append.

In the second example, in the finally block, you change your pointer to the string builder to be the null pointer, after you return the result from the append method. This does not modify the string builder that you formerly pointed to in any way.

EDIT: Looks like I got beat to it.