8. Object Lifetime

8.1 (e)

An object is only eligible for garbage collection if all remaining references to the object are from other objects that are also eligible for garbage collection. Therefore, if an object obj2 is eligible for garbage collection and object obj1 contains a reference to it, then object obj1 must also be eligible for garbage collection. Java does not have a keyword delete. An object will not necessarily be garbage collected immediately after it becomes unreachable. However, the object will be eligible for garbage collection. Circular references do not prevent objects from being garbage collected, only reachable references do. An object is not eligible for garbage collection as long as the object can be accessed by any live ...

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