Lecture – 4

Objects and Memory

 Variables and Memory
• Values of most data types require more than one byte of
storage
– Several adjacent bytes are then used to hold the data item
– The entire chunk of memory that holds the data is called its memory
location
– The address of the first byte of this memory location is used as the
address for the data item
• A computer's main memory can be thought of as a long list of
memory locations of varying sizes

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Variables in Memory

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 References
• Every variable is implemented as a location in computer memory
• When the variable is a primitive type, the value of the variable is
stored in the memory location assigned to the variable
– Each primitive type always require the same amount of memory to
store its values

int age = 23
23 4-Bytes

age 23
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 References
• When the variable is a class type, only the memory address (or
reference) where its object is located is stored in the memory
location assigned to the variable
– The object named by the variable is stored in some other location in
memory
– Like primitives, the value of a class variable is a fixed size
– Unlike primitives, the value of a class variable is a memory address or
reference
– The object, whose address is stored in the variable, can be of any size

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Class Type Variables Store a Reference (Part 1 of 2)

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Class Type Variables Store a Reference (Part 2 of 2)

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Assignment Operator with Class Type Variables
• Two reference variables can contain the same reference, and
therefore name the same object
– The assignment operator sets the reference (memory address) of one
class type variable equal to that of another
– Any change to the object named by one of these variables will
produce a change to the object named by the other variable, since
they are the same object
variable2 = variable1;

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Assignment Operator with Class Type Variables (Part
1 of 3)

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Assignment Operator with Class Type Variables (Part
2 of 3)

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Assignment Operator with Class Type Variables (Part
3 of 3)

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 The Constant null
• null is a special constant that may be assigned to a variable of any class type
YourClass yourObject = null;
• It is used to indicate that the variable has no "real value"
– It is often used in constructors to initialize class type instance variables when there is no obvious
object to use
• null is not an object: It is, rather, a kind of "placeholder" for a reference that does
not name any memory location
– Because it is like a memory address, use == or != (instead of equals) to test if a class variable
contains null
if (yourObject == null)
System.out.println("No real object here.");

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 Pitfall: Null Pointer Exception
• Even though a class variable can be initialized to null, this does not mean that
null is an object
– null is only a placeholder for an object

• Any attempt to do this will result in a "Null Pointer Exception" error message
ToyClass2 aVariable = null ;
String representation = aVariable.toString();

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 Anonymous Objects

• Sometimes the object created is used as an argument to a method, and never used
again
– In this case, the object need not be assigned to a variable, i.e., given a name
• An object whose reference is not assigned to a variable is called an anonymous
object

ToyClass temp = new ToyClass("JOE", 42);

if (variable1.equals( new ToyClass("JOE", 42))) if (variable1.equals(temp))
System.out.println("Equal"); System.out.println("Equal");
else else
System.out.println("Not equal"); System.out.println("Not equal");

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 Java Garbage Collection
• In java, garbage means unreferenced objects.
• Garbage Collection is process of reclaiming the runtime unused
memory automatically.
• Advantages
– It makes java memory efficient because garbage collector removes
the unreferenced objects from heap memory.
– It is automatically done by the garbage collector(a part of JVM) so
we don't need to make extra efforts.

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Garbage Collection - Basic Process

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 How can an object be unreferenced?
• By nulling a reference:
Employee e=new Employee();
e=null;
• By assigning a reference to another:
Employee e1=new Employee();
Employee e2=new Employee();
e2=e1;//now the first object referred by e1 is available for garbage collection

• By anonymous object:
new Employee();

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 Java Object finalize() Method
• Finalize() is the method of Object class
• Called just before an object is garbage collected
protected void finalize(){}

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 Rules for method writing
• A method should not have arguments if the working is solely dependent
on class data members only. (example: area function in rectangle class)
• If a method requires something other than the class data members,
then that should be received as argument. (example: withdraw function
in Account class. Amount to be withdrawn should be received in
argument)
• A computation function should return the result of computation.
• Avoid the use of scanners in methods.
• State modification methods must ensure valid state changes.
• Apply validation checks in state modification methods.
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