Janice J. Heiss's Blog

September 2007 Archives

Java Finalization's Memory-Retention Issues

I recommend taking a look at "How to Handle Java Finalization's Memory-Retention Issues," by Sun's Tony Printezis on java.sun.com.

Finalization allows you to perform postmortem cleanup on objects that the garbage collector has found to be unreachable. It's normally used to reclaim native resources associated with an object. Tony describes how finalization is implemented in a JVM; he identifies problems where memory can be unnecessarily
retained by finalizable objects, and offers solutions, plus advice on when and when not to use finalization.

If the topic intrigues you, check it out.

Simon Phipps on Open Source

Please tell me what you think of Sun chief open source officer Simon Phipps's analysis of open source communities that I've summarized in an article on java.sun.com. Simon has overseen the open sourcing of the Java platform for Sun since his arrival in 2000 -- he's very thoughtful. (Here's Simon's blog.

Some brief points:

Now that software communities are easy to create and showing up everywhere, for most software projects open collaboration is more fruitful than closed. The economic model has changed so that support and training are key. Open source developing involves leveraging the value of the community and allowing your own skills to be leveraged in return in order to prevent "regression test hell".

Btw, the article has created a small buzz on JavaLobby where Simon himself clarifies some issues.

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