Basic Question

[Gaurav Vaish]

How do you force destruction of an object?

Will a simple "someObj = null" suffice?

-----
MyType someObj = new MyType();
...
...


someObj = null; // <= Will this call the destructor?

-----

--

Happy Hacking,
Gaurav

http://gvaish.virtualave.net

--------------------------------

[Jon Skeet]

Re: Basic Question

Gaurav Vaish <me@privacy.net > wrote:[color=blue]
> How do you force destruction of an object?[/color]

You don't.
[color=blue]
> Will a simple "someObj = null" suffice?[/color]

No:

1) There may be other references to the object
2) The object won't be garbage collected until the garbage collector
next collects the generation the object lives in.
[color=blue]
> -----
> MyType someObj = new MyType();
> ...
> ...
>
>
> someObj = null; // <= Will this call the destructor?[/color]

No.

--
Jon Skeet - <skeet@pobox.co m>

http://www.pobox.com/~skeet

If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

[Gaurav Vaish]

Re: Basic Question

If there are no other instances of the object then this should suffice.. am
I right?

--

Happy Hacking,
Gaurav

http://gvaish.virtualave.net

--------------------------------


"Jon Skeet" <skeet@pobox.co m> wrote in message
news:MPG.19d62d e49853c0859896f c@news.microsof t.com...[color=blue]
> Gaurav Vaish <me@privacy.net > wrote:[color=green]
> > How do you force destruction of an object?[/color]
>
> You don't.
>[color=green]
> > Will a simple "someObj = null" suffice?[/color]
>
> No:
>
> 1) There may be other references to the object
> 2) The object won't be garbage collected until the garbage collector
> next collects the generation the object lives in.
>[color=green]
> > -----
> > MyType someObj = new MyType();
> > ...
> > ...
> >
> >
> > someObj = null; // <= Will this call the destructor?[/color]
>
> No.
>
> --
> Jon Skeet - <skeet@pobox.co m>
> http://www.pobox.com/~skeet
> If replying to the group, please do not mail me too[/color]

[Jon Skeet]

Re: Basic Question

Gaurav Vaish <me@privacy.net > wrote:[color=blue]
> If there are no other instances of the object then this should suffice.. am
> I right?[/color]

No. "No other instances of the object" doesn't make sense - an object
*is* an instance. Did you mean if there are no other references to the
object? If so, that's enough to make it eligible for garbage collection
- but it doesn't mean that it will instantly be garbage collected, or
that the finalizer will immediately be called.

Also note that if it's a local variable, or if it's an instance field
of another object which is going to become eligible for garbage
collection, you don't need to set it to null.

--
Jon Skeet - <skeet@pobox.co m>

http://www.pobox.com/~skeet

If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

[Rob Windsor]

Re: Basic Question

Gaurav,

No, "someObj = null" will not suffice. .NET uses reference tracking garbage
collection which means that your object will be destroyed some time from the
point the last reference to it is released and the application terminates.

Here's a link to a great article that describes this process in detail.

http://www.fawcette.com/vsm/2002_12/magazine/features/balena/default.asp

--
Rob Windsor
G6 Consulting
Toronto, Canada



"Gaurav Vaish" <me@privacy.net > wrote in message
news:bkh41u$1c6 qo$1@ID-108900.news.uni-berlin.de...[color=blue]
> How do you force destruction of an object?
>
> Will a simple "someObj = null" suffice?
>
> -----
> MyType someObj = new MyType();
> ...
> ...
>
>
> someObj = null; // <= Will this call the destructor?
>
> -----
>
> --
>
> Happy Hacking,
> Gaurav
> http://gvaish.virtualave.net
> --------------------------------
>
>[/color]