Java Glossary : finalize

Java definitions: 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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finalize

Note the z American spelling is finalize. Java has all sorts of mechanisms for running special initialisation code, but it is rather weak on dealing with finalisation code. You can add a method called finalize to any class.

protected void finalize() throws Throwable {...}

When a object is about to be garbage collected, its finalize method will be run. The catch is, at shutdown, by default the finalizers are not run, so you can't count on them to do things like close files.

You can also register a hunk of code to be run like this:

Runtime.addShutdownHook( Thread hook );

Unfortunately addShutdownHook takes a memory-hogging Thread rather than a lightweight Runnable.

final ¤ finally ¤ shutdown

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