Components of Classes in Java ( PART - I )

                                                 

 

There are various other components of  a class that affect it functioning actively or passively. These are described below.

Garbage Collection

Since objects are dynamically allocated by using the new operator , java handles the deallocation automatically. The technique used is called as Garbage Collection.

In this , when no reference to an object exist , that object is assumed to be no  longer needed , and the memory occupied by the object can be reclaimed.

The garbage collection occurs sporadically during the execution of the execution of the program. It won't occur simply because 1 or more objects exist that are no longer used.

The finalize ( ) method

Sometimes an object will need to perform some action when it is destroyed. If an object is holding some non-java resource such as file handler or window character font , then you might want to make sure these resources are freed before an object is destroyed.

To handle such situations , java provide a mechanism called finalization. Through this , you can define specific actions that will occur when an object is just about to be reclaimed by the garbage collector.

To add finalizer , we define finalize ( ) method.

syntax:

                    protected void finalize ( )
                   { 
                      //finalization code
                   }