finalize method confusion

[saurabh agr]

i can't understand these lines can anybody help me........
"In the finalize() method you could write code that passes a reference
to the object in question back to another object, effectively uneligiblizing the object
for garbage collection."
thanks

[Wouter Oet]

The finalize method is called before an object is garbage collected. An object is garbage collected when there are no more references to it.
So when the finalize method is called then there are no more references to the object. But if the finalize method introduces a reference (e.g.
by calling something like CentralRegister.register(this);) then the garbage collector will not garbage collect the object.

[saurabh agr]

i dont know about CentralRegister.register(this);, can you please elaborate it, if possible provide me a code snippet which passes a reference
to the object in question back to another object........

[Wouter Oet]

That is just an example of introducing a reference to the object.

[himanshu.harish agrawal]

Hello Saurabh,

Below code should help you.

public class FinalizationTest {

	private static FinalizationTest finalizationTest = null;
	
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		FinalizationTest finalizationTest = new FinalizationTest();
		finalizationTest = null;
		System.gc();
	}
	
	public void finalize(){
		System.out.println("coming in finalize");
		finalizationTest = this;
		System.out.println("going out of finalize");
	}

}

As in the finalize method we are assigning the object back to some object reference variable, so GC will not delete this object.

Thanks.