Garbage Collection doubt

[Milan Sutaria]

Source: Whizlabs

  class MyClass
{
private MyClass z;
public void other(MyClass c){ z=c;}
protected void finalise(){System.out.println("called");}
 
}
 
class test
{
private static void f(){}
 
public static void main(String[] args) {
 
MyClass c1 = new MyClass()
MyClass c2 = new MyClass()
c1.other(c2);
c2.other(c1);
MyClass c3 = new MyClass();
c1=c3;
c2=c3;
f();
}
}  

Question: How many objects are elligible for garbage collection by the time finaleze() is invoked?
Options:
1
2
3
Code does not compile
None of the Above

I gave the last option "None of the above" thinking of 4 objects being Garbage Collected. But the answer quotes 2. Is it that the "private MyClass z" is just a reference & not an Object? Can someone Explain me?

[Amit Ghorpade]

Is it that the "private MyClass z" is just a reference & not an Object?

Yes it is just a reference. Its not instantiated anywhere, just assigned.

Hope this helps

[Saurabh Vyas]

To know how many object are actually created on HEAP, what i do is, I look out for the keyword "new". What ever no. of times the keyword "new" appears in the code, that is the actual number of objects that get created on Heap.

Thus in your example, since there are only 3 new keywords so there is no question of 4 objects getting created or coming to existence.

[Milan Sutaria]

Thanks Amit & Saurabh