Java References | Garbage Collection

Java allows a special behavior for garbage collection, unlike most of the other garbage-collected programming languages. A normal reference in Java is known as strong reference. Other than that Java supports three more references.

• Soft reference mainly used to implement cache. An object that is not reachable by a strong reference (that is, not strongly reachable), but is referenced by a soft reference is called softly reachable. A softly reachable object may be garbage collected at the discretion of the garbage collector. This generally means that softly reachable objects will only be garbage collected when free memory is low, but again, it is at the discretion of the garbage collector. Semantically, a soft reference means "keep this object unless the memory is needed."
• Weak reference is mainly used to implement weak maps. An object that is not strongly or softly reachable, but is referenced by a weak reference is called weakly reachable. A weakly reachable object will be garbage collected during the next collection cycle. This behavior is used in the class java.util.WeakHashMap. A weak map allows the programmer to put key/value pairs in the map and not worry about the objects taking up memory when the key is no longer reachable anywhere else. Another possible application of weak references is the string intern pool. Semantically, a weak reference means "get rid of this object when nothing else references it."
• Phantom reference is mainly used to reference objects that have been marked for garbage collection and have been marked finalized, however not been reclaimed. An object that is not strongly, softly or weakly reachable, but is referenced by a phantom reference is called phantom reachable. This allows for more flexible cleanup than is possible with the finalization mechanism alone. Semantically, a phantom reference means "this object is no longer needed and has been finalized in preparation for being collected."