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If there is no references exept a WeakReference to an object and I call
System.gc(), am I sure that my object has been garbage collected ?

Vincent Cantin wrote:
> If there is no references exept a WeakReference to an object and I call
> System.gc(), am I sure that my object has been garbage collected ?
>

If a get() call on the WeakReference returns null, the object has been GC'd.

BK

> > If there is no references exept a WeakReference to an object and I call
> > System.gc(), am I sure that my object has been garbage collected ?
>
> If a get() call on the WeakReference returns null, the object has been
GC'd.

It doesn't answer my question.

On Thu, 23 Sep 2004 19:42:08 +0800, Vincent Cantin wrote:
>> > If there is no references exept a WeakReference to an object and I call
>> > System.gc(), am I sure that my object has been garbage collected ?
>>
>> If a get() call on the WeakReference returns null, the object has been
> GC'd.
>
> It doesn't answer my question.

There is no guarantee that gc will collect every object that is
available to be collected, so the answer to your question is no.

/gordon

--
[ do not email me copies of your followups ]
g o r d o n + n e w s @ b a l d e r 1 3 . s e

"Gordon Beaton" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Thu, 23 Sep 2004 19:42:08 +0800, Vincent Cantin wrote:
> >> > If there is no references exept a WeakReference to an object and I call
> >> > System.gc(), am I sure that my object has been garbage collected ?
> >>
> >> If a get() call on the WeakReference returns null, the object has been
> > GC'd.
> >
> > It doesn't answer my question.
>
> There is no guarantee that gc will collect every object that is
> available to be collected, so the answer to your question is no.

System.gc() is not guaranteed to perform any collections.
So, the first answer is the correct response to your original
question. The only way to know that the instance was collected
is when WeakReference.get() returns null (or watch for the
WeakReference to be enqueued on the ReferenceQueue).

"Vincent Cantin" <> wrote in message
news:...
> If there is no references exept a WeakReference to an object and I call
> System.gc(), am I sure that my object has been garbage collected ?

I'm curious why you care? Why is it important one way or the other?

If you're using a WeakReference, you've already communicated to the system
that your interest in the object is temporal based on the whim of the JVM
and the GC, so why are you interested in the specific behavior? How does
this affect your applicaton?

Regards,

Will Hartung
()

> > If there is no references exept a WeakReference to an object and I call
> > System.gc(), am I sure that my object has been garbage collected ?
>
> I'm curious why you care? Why is it important one way or the other?
>
> If you're using a WeakReference, you've already communicated to the system
> that your interest in the object is temporal based on the whim of the JVM
> and the GC, so why are you interested in the specific behavior? How does
> this affect your applicaton?
>
> Regards,
>
> Will Hartung
> ()

because I need to know in some points of given class of programs that an
object is reachable or not.

"Vincent Cantin" <> wrote in message
news:...
> > > If there is no references exept a WeakReference to an object and I
call
> > > System.gc(), am I sure that my object has been garbage collected ?
> >
> > I'm curious why you care? Why is it important one way or the other?
> >
> > If you're using a WeakReference, you've already communicated to the
system
> > that your interest in the object is temporal based on the whim of the
JVM
> > and the GC, so why are you interested in the specific behavior? How does
> > this affect your applicaton?
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Will Hartung
> > ()
>
> because I need to know in some points of given class of programs that an
> object is reachable or not.
>
>
What happens if you compare against null?

Vincent Cantin wrote:
> because I need to know in some points of given class of programs that an
> object is reachable or not.

If you want to know whether the WeakReference is still valid, just use
get() and compare the result with null. You are not guaranteed that a
call to System.gc will clear the WeakReference, so you need to check
yourself if you wish to find out.

--
www.designacourse.com
The Easiest Way to Train Anyone... Anywhere.

Chris Smith - Lead Software Developer/Technical Trainer
MindIQ Corporation

> > because I need to know in some points of given class of programs that an
> > object is reachable or not.
>
> If you want to know whether the WeakReference is still valid, just use
> get() and compare the result with null. You are not guaranteed that a
> call to System.gc will clear the WeakReference, so you need to check
> yourself if you wish to find out.

I think nobody understood the problem : What I want to know is wether or not
my object is reachable.

To check the value returned by of the WeakReference.get() will not tell me
what I want to know, since if the answer is not null it doesn't give me the
information about the reachability of the object.

I don't a way to know when a weak reference reflect the reachability of the
object ...
understood ?