Re: finalize(), System.runFinalization(), System.gc();

Walden H. Leverich wrote:

or even remove references early by setting them to null.

Assuming the JVM GC is roughly as smart as the CLR's GC, setting the
reference to null is an unnecessary step. An object is eligible for
collection when it can no longer be referenced... it doesn't actually
need to be out of scope yet.

In the trivial cases this is true, but I think one has to be careful when dealing with collections and arrays. The problem of arrays holding object references when they are no longer accessible via business rules is well documented. I would guess you could have a similar problem with collections and maps where you think you no longer have references to your object, but indeed do. Setting references to null in some of these non-trivial cases is vital.

Brian