chapter-12.txt

Chapter 12. Execution

Table of Contents

12.1. Java Virtual Machine Startup
12.1.1. Load the Initial Class or Interface
12.1.2. Link the Initial Class or Interface: Verify, Prepare, (Optionally) Resolve
12.1.3. Initialize the Initial Class or Interface: Execute Initializers
12.1.4. Invoke a main Method
12.2. Loading of Classes and Interfaces
12.2.1. The Loading Process
12.2.2. Class Loader Consistency
12.3. Linking of Classes and Interfaces
12.3.1. Verification of the Binary Representation
12.3.2. Preparation of a Class or Interface
12.3.3. Resolution of Symbolic References
12.4. Initialization of Classes and Interfaces
12.4.1. When Initialization Occurs
12.4.2. Detailed Initialization Procedure
12.5. Creation of New Class Instances
12.6. Finalization of Class Instances
12.6.1. Implementing Finalization
12.6.2. Interaction with the Memory Model
12.7. Unloading of Classes and Interfaces
12.8. Program Exit

This chapter specifies activities that occur during execution of a program. It is organized around the life cycle of the Java Virtual Machine and of the classes, interfaces, and objects that form a program.

The Java Virtual Machine starts up by loading a specified class or interface, then invoking a main method in this specified class or interface. Section §12.1 outlines the loading, linking, and initialization steps involved in executing this method, as an introduction to the concepts in this chapter. Further sections specify the details of loading (§12.2), linking (§12.3), and initialization (§12.4).

The chapter continues with a specification of the procedures for creation of new class instances (§12.5); and finalization of class instances (§12.6). It concludes by describing the unloading of classes (§12.7) and the procedure followed when a program exits (§12.8).

12.1. Java Virtual Machine Startup

The Java Virtual Machine starts execution by invoking a main method of some specified class or interface. If this method has a formal parameter, it is passed a single argument which is an array of strings.

The precise semantics of Java Virtual Machine startup are given in Chapter 5 of The Java Virtual Machine Specification, Java SE 25 Edition. Here we present an overview of the process from the viewpoint of the Java programming language.

The manner in which the initial class or interface is specified to the Java Virtual Machine is beyond the scope of this specification, but it is typical, in host environments that use command lines, for the fully qualified name of the initial class or interface to be specified as a command line argument and for following command line arguments to be used as strings that are taken as the components of an array that is passed as an argument to the main method. If the original compilation unit was a compact compilation unit (§7.3), then the name of the file that contained the compilation unit, minus any extension, is typically used to specify the name of the initial class or interface.

For example, in a UNIX implementation, the command line:

java Test reboot Bob Dot Enzo


will typically start a Java Virtual Machine by invoking a main method of class Test (a class in an unnamed package), passing it an argument array containing the four strings "reboot", "Bob", "Dot", and "Enzo".

Whereas if the file HelloWorld.java contained the following compact compilation unit:


void main() {
    System.out.println("Hello, World!");
}


which has been compiled, then the command line:

java HelloWorld


will typically start a Java Virtual Machine by invoking the main method of the implicitly declared class (§8.1.8), producing the output:

Hello, World!


We now outline the steps the Java Virtual Machine may take to execute the initial class or interface; these are described further in later sections.

12.1.1. Load the Initial Class or Interface

The attempt to execute a main method of the initial class or interface discovers that it is not loaded - that is, that the Java Virtual Machine does not currently contain a binary representation for this class or interface. The Java Virtual Machine then uses a class loader to attempt to find such a binary representation. If this process fails, then an error is thrown. This loading process is described further in §12.2.

12.1.2. Link the Initial Class or Interface: Verify, Prepare, (Optionally) Resolve

After the class or interface is loaded, it must be initialized before a main method can be invoked. The initial class, like all classes and interfaces, must be linked before it is initialized. Linking involves verification, preparation, and (optionally) resolution. Linking is described further in §12.3.

Verification checks that the loaded representation of the initial class or interface is well-formed, with a proper symbol table. Verification also checks that the code that implements the initial class or interface obeys the semantic requirements of the Java programming language and the Java Virtual Machine. If a problem is detected during verification, then an error is thrown. Verification is described further in §12.3.1.

Preparation involves allocation of static storage and any data structures that are used internally by the implementation of the Java Virtual Machine, such as method tables. Preparation is described further in §12.3.2.

Resolution is the process of checking symbolic references from the initial class or interface to other classes and interfaces, by loading the other classes and interfaces that are mentioned and checking that the references are correct.

The resolution step is optional at the time of initial linkage. An implementation may resolve symbolic references from a class or interface that is being linked very early, even to the point of resolving all symbolic references from the classes and interfaces that are further referenced, recursively. (This resolution may result in errors from these further loading and linking steps.) This implementation choice represents one extreme and is similar to the kind of "static" linkage that has been done for many years in simple implementations of the C language. (In these implementations, a compiled program is typically represented as an "a.out" file that contains a fully-linked version of the program, including completely resolved links to library routines used by the program. Copies of these library routines are included in the "a.out" file.)

An implementation may instead choose to resolve a symbolic reference only when it is actively used; consistent use of this strategy for all symbolic references would represent the "laziest" form of resolution. In this case, if the initial class or interface had several symbolic references to another class, then the references might be resolved one at a time, as they are used, or perhaps not at all, if these references were never used during execution of the program.

The only requirement on when resolution is performed is that any errors detected during resolution must be thrown at a point in the program where some action is taken by the program that might, directly or indirectly, require linkage to the class or interface involved in the error. Using the "static" example implementation choice described above, loading and linkage errors could occur before the program is executed if they involved a class or interface mentioned in the initial class or interface or any of the further, recursively referenced, classes and interfaces. In a system that implemented the "laziest" resolution, these errors would be thrown only when an incorrect symbolic reference is actively used.

The resolution process is described further in §12.3.3.

12.1.3. Initialize the Initial Class or Interface: Execute Initializers

At this stage, the Java Virtual Machine is still trying to execute a main method of the initial class or interface. This is permitted only if the class or interface has been initialized (§12.4.1).

Initialization consists of execution of any class variable initializers and static initializers of the initial class or interface, in textual order. But before it can be initialized, its direct superclass must be initialized, as well as the direct superclass of its direct superclass, and so on, recursively. In the simplest case, the initial class has Object as its implicit direct superclass; if class Object has not yet been initialized, then it must be initialized before the initial class or interface is initialized. Class Object has no superclass, so the recursion terminates here.

If the initial class has another class Super as its superclass, then Super must be initialized before the initial class. This requires loading, verifying, and preparing Super if this has not already been done and, depending on the implementation, may also involve resolving the symbolic references from Super and so on, recursively.

Initialization may thus cause loading, linking, and initialization errors, including such errors involving other classes and interfaces.

The initialization process is described further in §12.4.

12.1.4. Invoke a main Method

Finally, after completion of the initialization for the initial class or interface (during which other consequential loading, linking, and initializing may have occurred), a main method declared in, or inherited by, the initial class or interface is invoked.

A main method declared in, or inherited by, a given class is a candidate main method if either:

It has a single formal parameter (§8.4.1) whose declared type is an array of String, a void result, and public, protected or package access; or

It has no formal parameters, a void result, and public, protected or package access.

Note that a candidate main method may be either a static or an instance method. It may optionally have a throws clause (§8.4.6). The type of the single formal parameter may be given as either String[] or String... as they denote the same type.

The form of a candidate main method expanded significantly in Java SE 25. Prior to that, it had to be public, static, and have a single formal parameter; the only variation possible was String[] versus String... for the type of the single formal parameter.

Note that it is not a compile-time error if the initial class or interface counts more than one candidate main methods among its members.

The presence of a candidate main method in a class or interface may not be immediately apparent because it may be inherited. For example, a default method in an interface is an instance method (§9.4), so may be a candidate main method when inherited by a class that implements the interface.

A candidate main method of the initial class or interface is invoked as if by application of the following rules:

If there is a candidate main method with a single formal parameter, then this method is invoked. If this method is static then it is invoked directly, passing the argument array (§12.1). If the candidate main method is an instance method then first an instance of the initial class must be created. This class instance is the result of evaluating an unqualified class instance creation expression (§15.9) with no type arguments, no actual arguments, no class body, and where the ClassOrInterfaceTypeToInstantiate is the name of the initial class. The candidate main method is then invoked on the resulting instance, passing the argument array.

Otherwise, if there is a candidate main method with no formal parameters, then this method is invoked. If this method is static then it is invoked directly. If the candidate main method is an instance method then first an instance of the initial class must be created. This class instance is the result of evaluating an unqualified class instance creation expression (§15.9) with no type arguments, no actual arguments, no class body, and where the ClassOrInterfaceTypeToInstantiate is the name of the initial class. The candidate main method is then invoked on the resulting instance with no actual arguments.

Note that it is not possible for a class to have both a static and an instance method with the same signature (§8.4.2).

If there is no candidate main method to invoke, or if creating an instance of the initial class when invoking an instance main method fails, then execution fails; the precise behavior of an implementation in this case is beyond the scope of this specification.

12.2. Loading of Classes and Interfaces

Loading refers to the process of finding the binary form of a class or interface with a particular name, perhaps by computing it on the fly, but more typically by retrieving a binary representation previously computed from source code by a Java compiler, and constructing, from that binary form, a Class object to represent the class or interface (§1.4).

The precise semantics of loading are given in Chapter 5 of The Java Virtual Machine Specification, Java SE 25 Edition. Here we present an overview of the process from the viewpoint of the Java programming language.

The binary representation of a class or interface is normally the class file format described in Chapter 4 of The Java Virtual Machine Specification, Java SE 25 Edition, but other representations are possible, provided they meet the requirements specified in §13.1.

12.2.1. The Loading Process

The loading process is implemented by the class ClassLoader and its subclasses. The method defineClass of class ClassLoader may be used to construct Class objects from binary representations in the class file format (§1.4).

Different subclasses of ClassLoader may implement different loading policies. In particular, a class loader may cache binary representations of classes and interfaces, prefetch them based on expected usage, or load a group of related classes together. These activities may not be completely transparent to a running application if, for example, a newly compiled version of a class is not found because an older version is cached by a class loader. It is the responsibility of a class loader, however, to reflect loading errors only at points in the program where they could have arisen without prefetching or group loading.

If an error occurs during class loading, then an instance of one of the following subclasses of class LinkageError will be thrown at any point in the program that (directly or indirectly) uses the requested class or interface:

ClassCircularityError: A requested class or interface could not be loaded because it would be its own superclass or superinterface (§8.1.4, §9.1.3, §13.4.4).

ClassFormatError: The binary data that purports to specify a requested compiled class or interface is malformed.

NoClassDefFoundError: No definition for a requested class or interface could be found by the relevant class loader.

Because loading involves the allocation of new data structures, it may fail with an OutOfMemoryError.

12.2.2. Class Loader Consistency

Well-behaved class loaders maintain these properties:

Given the same name, a class loader should always return the same Class object.

If a class loader L1 delegates loading of a class or interface C to another loader L2, then for any class or interface D that is named by the direct superclass type of C, or by a direct superinterface type of C, or by the type of a field in C, or by the type of a formal parameter of a method or constructor in C, or by the return type of a method in C, L1 and L2 should return the same Class object for D.

A malicious class loader could violate these properties. However, it could not undermine the security of the type system, because the Java Virtual Machine guards against this.

For further discussion of these issues, see The Java Virtual Machine Specification, Java SE 25 Edition and the paper Dynamic Class Loading in the Java Virtual Machine, by Sheng Liang and Gilad Bracha, in Proceedings of OOPSLA '98, published as ACM SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 33, Number 10, October 1998, pages 36-44. A basic principle of the design of the Java programming language is that the run-time type system cannot be subverted by code written in the Java programming language, not even by implementations of sensitive system classes such as ClassLoader.

12.3. Linking of Classes and Interfaces

Linking is the process of taking a binary form of a class or interface and combining it into the run-time state of the Java Virtual Machine, so that it can be executed. A class or interface is always loaded before it is linked.

The precise semantics of linking are given in Chapter 5 of The Java Virtual Machine Specification, Java SE 25 Edition. Here we present an overview of the process from the viewpoint of the Java programming language.

Three different activities are involved in linking: verification, preparation, and resolution of symbolic references.

This specification allows an implementation flexibility as to when linking activities (and, because of recursion, loading) take place, provided that the semantics of the Java programming language are respected, that a class or interface is completely verified and prepared before it is initialized, and that errors detected during linkage are thrown at a point in the program where some action is taken by the program that might require linkage to the class or interface involved in the error.

For example, an implementation may choose to resolve each symbolic reference in a class or interface individually, only when it is used (lazy or late resolution), or to resolve them all at once while the class is being verified (static resolution). This means that the resolution process may continue, in some implementations, after a class or interface has been initialized.

Because linking involves the allocation of new data structures, it may fail with an OutOfMemoryError.

12.3.1. Verification of the Binary Representation

Verification ensures that the binary representation of a class or interface is structurally correct. For example, it checks that every instruction has a valid operation code; that every branch instruction branches to the start of some other instruction, rather than into the middle of an instruction; that every method is provided with a structurally correct signature; and that every instruction obeys the type discipline of the Java Virtual Machine.

If an error occurs during verification, then an instance of the following subclass of class LinkageError will be thrown at the point in the program that caused the class to be verified:

VerifyError: The binary definition for a class or interface failed to pass a set of required checks to verify that it obeys the semantics of the Java Virtual Machine language and that it cannot violate the integrity of the Java Virtual Machine. (See §13.4.2, §13.4.4, §13.4.9, and §13.4.17 for some examples.)

12.3.2. Preparation of a Class or Interface

Preparation involves creating the static fields (class variables and constants) for a class or interface and initializing such fields to the default values (§4.12.5). This does not require the execution of any source code; explicit initializers for static fields are executed as part of initialization (§12.4), not preparation.

Implementations of the Java Virtual Machine may precompute additional data structures at preparation time in order to make later operations on a class or interface more efficient. One particularly useful data structure is a "method table" or other data structure that allows any method to be invoked on instances of a class without requiring a search of superclasses at invocation time.

12.3.3. Resolution of Symbolic References

The binary representation of a class or interface references other classes and interfaces and their fields, methods, and constructors symbolically, using the binary names (§13.1) of the other classes and interfaces. For fields and methods, these symbolic references include the name of the class or interface of which the field or method is a member, as well as the name of the field or method itself, together with appropriate type information.

Before a symbolic reference can be used it must undergo resolution, wherein a symbolic reference is checked to be correct and, typically, replaced with a direct reference that can be more efficiently processed if the reference is used repeatedly.

If an error occurs during resolution, then an error will be thrown. Most typically, this will be an instance of one of the following subclasses of the class IncompatibleClassChangeError, but it may also be an instance of some other subclass of IncompatibleClassChangeError or even an instance of the class IncompatibleClassChangeError itself. This error may be thrown at any point in the program that uses a symbolic reference, directly or indirectly:

IllegalAccessError: A symbolic reference has been encountered that specifies a use or assignment of a field, or invocation of a method, or creation of an instance of a class, to which the code containing the reference does not have access because the field or method was declared with private, protected, or package access (not public), or because the class was not declared public in a package that is exported or opened to the code containing the reference.

This can occur, for example, if a field that is originally declared public is changed to be private after another class that refers to the field has been compiled (§13.4.7); or if the package in which a public class is declared ceases to be exported by its module after another module that refers to the class has been compiled (§13.3).

InstantiationError: A symbolic reference has been encountered that is used in class instance creation expression, but an instance cannot be created because the reference turns out to refer to an interface or to an abstract class.

This can occur, for example, if a class that is originally not abstract is changed to be abstract after another class that refers to the class in question has been compiled (§13.4.1).

NoSuchFieldError: A symbolic reference has been encountered that refers to a specific field of a specific class or interface, but the class or interface does not contain a field of that name.

This can occur, for example, if a field declaration was deleted from a class after another class that refers to the field was compiled (§13.4.8).

NoSuchMethodError: A symbolic reference has been encountered that refers to a specific method of a specific class or interface, but the class or interface does not contain a method of that signature.

This can occur, for example, if a method declaration was deleted from a class after another class that refers to the method was compiled (§13.4.12).

Additionally, an UnsatisfiedLinkError, a subclass of LinkageError, may be thrown if a class declares a native method for which no implementation can be found. The error will occur if the method is used, or earlier, depending on what kind of resolution strategy is being used by an implementation of the Java Virtual Machine (§12.3).

12.4. Initialization of Classes and Interfaces

Initialization of a class consists of executing its static initializers and the initializers for static fields (class variables) declared in the class.

Initialization of an interface consists of executing the initializers for fields (constants) declared in the interface.

12.4.1. When Initialization Occurs

A class or interface T will be initialized immediately before the first occurrence of any one of the following:

T is a class and an instance of T is created.

A static method declared by T is invoked.

A static field declared by T is assigned.

A static field declared by T is used and the field is not a constant variable (§4.12.4).

When a class is initialized, its superclasses are initialized (if they have not been previously initialized), as well as any superinterfaces (§8.1.5) that declare any default methods (§9.4.3) (if they have not been previously initialized). Initialization of an interface does not, of itself, cause initialization of any of its superinterfaces.

A reference to a static field (§8.3.1.1) causes initialization of only the class or interface that actually declares it, even though it might be referred to through the name of a subclass, a subinterface, or a class that implements an interface.

Invocation of certain reflective methods in class Class and in package java.lang.reflect also causes class or interface initialization.

A class or interface will not be initialized under any other circumstance.

Note that a compiler may generate synthetic default methods in an interface, that is, default methods that are neither explicitly nor implicitly declared (§13.1). Such methods will trigger the interface's initialization despite the source code giving no indication that the interface should be initialized.

The intent is that a class or interface has a set of initializers that put it in a consistent state, and that this state is the first state that is observed by other classes. The static initializers and class variable initializers are executed in textual order, and may not refer to class variables declared in the class whose declarations appear textually after the use, even though these class variables are in scope (§8.3.3). This restriction is designed to detect, at compile time, most circular or otherwise malformed initializations.

The fact that initialization code is unrestricted allows examples to be constructed where the value of a class variable can be observed when it still has its initial default value, before its initializing expression is evaluated, but such examples are rare in practice. (Such examples can be also constructed for instance variable initialization (§12.5).) The full power of the Java programming language is available in these initializers; programmers must exercise some care. This power places an extra burden on code generators, but this burden would arise in any case because the Java programming language is concurrent (§12.4.2).

Example 12.4.1-1. Superclasses Are Initialized Before Subclasses

class Super {
    static { System.out.print("Super "); }
}
class One {
    static { System.out.print("One "); }
}
class Two extends Super {
    static { System.out.print("Two "); }
}
class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        One o = null;
        Two t = new Two();
        System.out.println((Object)o == (Object)t);
    }
}


This program produces the output:

Super Two false


The class One is never initialized, because it not used actively and therefore is never linked to. The class Two is initialized only after its superclass Super has been initialized.




Example 12.4.1-2. Only The Class That Declares static Field Is Initialized

class Super {
    static int taxi = 1729;
}
class Sub extends Super {
    static { System.out.print("Sub "); }
}
class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println(Sub.taxi);
    }
}


This program prints only:

1729


because the class Sub is never initialized; the reference to Sub.taxi is a reference to a field actually declared in class Super and does not trigger initialization of the class Sub.




Example 12.4.1-3. Interface Initialization Does Not Initialize Superinterfaces

interface I {
    int i = 1, ii = Test.out("ii", 2);
}
interface J extends I {
    int j = Test.out("j", 3), jj = Test.out("jj", 4);
}
interface K extends J {
    int k = Test.out("k", 5);
}
class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println(J.i);
        System.out.println(K.j);
    }
    static int out(String s, int i) {
        System.out.println(s + "=" + i);
        return i;
    }
}


This program produces the output:

1
j=3
jj=4
3


The reference to J.i is to a field that is a constant variable (§4.12.4); therefore, it does not cause I to be initialized (§13.4.9).

The reference to K.j is a reference to a field actually declared in interface J that is not a constant variable; this causes initialization of the fields of interface J, but not those of its superinterface I, nor those of interface K.

Despite the fact that the name K is used to refer to field j of interface J, interface K is not initialized.



12.4.2. Detailed Initialization Procedure

Because the Java programming language is multithreaded, initialization of a class or interface requires careful synchronization, since some other thread may be trying to initialize the same class or interface at the same time. There is also the possibility that initialization of a class or interface may be requested recursively as part of the initialization of that class or interface; for example, a variable initializer in class A might invoke a method of an unrelated class B, which might in turn invoke a method of class A. The implementation of the Java Virtual Machine is responsible for taking care of synchronization and recursive initialization by using the following procedure.

The procedure assumes that the Class object has already been verified and prepared, and that the Class object contains state that indicates one of four situations:

This Class object is verified and prepared but not initialized.

This Class object is being initialized by some particular thread T.

This Class object is fully initialized and ready for use.

This Class object is in an erroneous state, perhaps because initialization was attempted and failed.

For each class or interface C, there is a unique initialization lock LC. The mapping from C to LC is left to the discretion of the Java Virtual Machine implementation. The procedure for initializing C is then as follows:

Synchronize on the initialization lock, LC, for C. This involves waiting until the current thread can acquire LC.

If the Class object for C indicates that initialization is in progress for C by some other thread, then release LC and block the current thread until informed that the in-progress initialization has completed, at which time repeat this step.

If the Class object for C indicates that initialization is in progress for C by the current thread, then this must be a recursive request for initialization. Release LC and complete normally.

If the Class object for C indicates that C has already been initialized, then no further action is required. Release LC and complete normally.

If the Class object for C is in an erroneous state, then initialization is not possible. Release LC and throw a NoClassDefFoundError.

Otherwise, record the fact that initialization of the Class object for C is in progress by the current thread, and release LC.

Then, initialize the static fields of C which are constant variables (§4.12.4, §8.3.2, §9.3.1).

Next, if C is a class rather than an interface, then let SC be its superclass and let SI1, ..., SIn be all superinterfaces of C that declare at least one default method. The order of superinterfaces is given by a recursive enumeration over the superinterface hierarchy of each interface directly implemented by C (in the left-to-right order of C's implements clause). For each interface I directly implemented by C, the enumeration recurs on I's superinterfaces (in the left-to-right order of I's extends clause) before returning I.

For each S in the list [ SC, SI1, ..., SIn ], if S has not yet been initialized, then recursively perform this entire procedure for S. If necessary, verify and prepare S first.

If the initialization of S completes abruptly because of a thrown exception, then acquire LC, label the Class object for C as erroneous, notify all waiting threads, release LC, and complete abruptly, throwing the same exception that resulted from initializing S.

Next, determine whether assertions are enabled (§14.10) for C by querying its defining class loader.

Next, execute either the class variable initializers and static initializers of the class, or the field initializers of the interface, in textual order, as though they were a single block.

If the execution of the initializers completes normally, then acquire LC, label the Class object for C as fully initialized, notify all waiting threads, release LC, and complete this procedure normally.

Otherwise, the initializers must have completed abruptly by throwing some exception E. If the class of E is not Error or one of its subclasses, then create a new instance of the class ExceptionInInitializerError, with E as the argument, and use this object in place of E in the following step. If a new instance of ExceptionInInitializerError cannot be created because an OutOfMemoryError occurs, then instead use an OutOfMemoryError object in place of E in the following step.

Acquire LC, label the Class object for C as erroneous, notify all waiting threads, release LC, and complete this procedure abruptly with reason E or its replacement as determined in the previous step.

An implementation may optimize this procedure by eliding the lock acquisition in step 1 (and release in step 4/5) when it can determine that the initialization of the class has already completed, provided that, in terms of the memory model, all happens-before orderings that would exist if the lock were acquired, still exist when the optimization is performed.

Code generators need to preserve the points of possible initialization of a class or interface, inserting an invocation of the initialization procedure described above. If this initialization procedure completes normally and the Class object is fully initialized and ready for use, then the invocation of the initialization procedure is no longer necessary and it may be eliminated from the code - for example, by patching it out or otherwise regenerating the code.

Compile-time analysis may, in some cases, be able to eliminate many of the checks that a class or interface has been initialized from the generated code, if an initialization order for a group of related classes and interfaces can be determined. Such analysis must, however, fully account for concurrency and for the fact that initialization code is unrestricted.

12.5. Creation of New Class Instances

A new class instance is explicitly created when evaluation of a class instance creation expression (§15.9) causes a class to be instantiated.

A new class instance may be implicitly created in the following situations:

Loading of a class or interface that contains a string literal (§3.10.5) or a text block (§3.10.6) may create a new String object to denote the string represented by the string literal or text block. (This object creation will not occur if an instance of String denoting the same sequence of Unicode code points as the string represented by the string literal or text block has previously been interned.)

Execution of an operation that causes boxing conversion (§5.1.7). Boxing conversion may create a new object of a wrapper class (Boolean, Byte, Short, Character, Integer, Long, Float, Double) associated with one of the primitive types.

Execution of a string concatenation operator + (§15.18.1) that is not part of a constant expression (§15.29) always creates a new String object to represent the result. String concatenation operators may also create temporary wrapper objects for a value of a primitive type.

Evaluation of a method reference expression (§15.13.3) or a lambda expression (§15.27.4) may require that a new instance be created of a class that implements a functional interface type (§9.8).

Each of these situations identifies a particular constructor (§8.8) to be called with specified arguments (possibly none) as part of the class instance creation process.

Whenever a new class instance is created, memory space is allocated for it with room for all the instance variables declared in the class and all the instance variables declared in each superclass of the class, including all the instance variables that may be hidden (§8.3).

If there is not sufficient space available to allocate memory for the object, then creation of the class instance completes abruptly with an OutOfMemoryError. Otherwise, all the instance variables in the new object, including those declared in superclasses, are initialized to their default values (§4.12.5).

Just before a reference to the newly created object is returned as the result, the indicated constructor is processed to initialize the new object using the following procedure:

Assign the arguments for the constructor to newly created parameter variables for this constructor invocation.

If this constructor does not contain an explicit constructor invocation (§8.8.7.1) then continue from step 5.

Execute the BlockStatements, if any, of the prologue of the constructor body. If execution of any statement completes abruptly, then execution of the constructor completes abruptly for the same reason, otherwise continue with the next step.

The explicit constructor invocation is either an invocation of another constructor in the same class (using this) or an invocation of a superclass constructor (using super). Evaluate the arguments of the constructor invocation and process the constructor invocation recursively using these same seven steps. If the constructor invocation completes abruptly, then this procedure completes abruptly for the same reason. Otherwise, continue from step 7 if the invocation is of another constructor in the same class, and continue from step 6 if the invocation is of a superclass constructor.

If this constructor is for a class other than Object, then this constructor contains an implicit invocation of a superclass constructor with no arguments. In this case, process the implicit constructor invocation recursively using these same seven steps. If that constructor invocation completes abruptly, then this procedure completes abruptly for the same reason, otherwise continue with the next step.

Execute the instance initializers and instance variable initializers for this class, assigning the values of instance variable initializers to the corresponding instance variables, in the left-to-right order in which they appear textually in the source code for the class. If execution of any of these initializers results in an exception, then no further initializers are processed and this procedure completes abruptly with that same exception, otherwise continue with the next step.

Execute the BlockStatements, if any, of the epilogue of this constructor. If execution of any statement completes abruptly, then this procedure completes abruptly for the same reason. Otherwise, this procedure completes normally.

Unlike C++, the Java programming language does not specify altered rules for method dispatch during the creation of a new class instance. If methods are invoked that are overridden in subclasses in the object being initialized, then these overriding methods are used, even before the new object is completely initialized. Classes can avoid unwanted exposure of uninitialized state by assigning to their fields in the prologue of the constructor body.

Example 12.5-1. Evaluation of Instance Creation

class Point {
    int x, y;
    Point() { x = 1; y = 1; }
}
class ColoredPoint extends Point {
    int color = 0xFF00FF;
}
class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ColoredPoint cp = new ColoredPoint();
        System.out.println(cp.color);
    }
}


Here, a new instance of ColoredPoint is created. First, space is allocated for the new ColoredPoint, to hold the fields x, y, and color. All these fields are then initialized to their default values (in this case, 0 for each field). Next, the ColoredPoint constructor with no arguments is first invoked. Since ColoredPoint declares no constructors, a default constructor of the following form is implicitly declared:

ColoredPoint() { super(); }


This constructor then invokes the Point constructor with no arguments. The Point constructor does not begin with an invocation of a constructor, so the Java compiler provides an implicit invocation of its superclass constructor of no arguments, as though it had been written:

Point() { super(); x = 1; y = 1; }


Therefore, the constructor for Object which takes no arguments is invoked.

The class Object has no superclass, so the recursion terminates here. Next, any instance initializers and instance variable initializers of Object are invoked. Next, the body of the constructor of Object that takes no arguments is executed. No such constructor is declared in Object, so the Java compiler supplies a default one, which in this special case is:

Object() { }


This constructor executes without effect and returns.

Next, all initializers for the instance variables of class Point are executed. As it happens, the declarations of x and y do not provide any initialization expressions, so no action is required for this step of the example. Then the body of the Point constructor is executed, setting x to 1 and y to 1.

Next, the initializers for the instance variables of class ColoredPoint are executed. This step assigns the value 0xFF00FF to color. Finally, the epilogue of the ColoredPoint constructor is executed (the part after the invocation of super); there happen to be no statements in the epilogue, so no further action is required and initialization is complete.




Example 12.5-2. Dynamic Dispatch During Instance Creation

class Super {
    Super() { printThree(); }
    void printThree() { System.out.println("three"); }
}
class Test extends Super {
    int three = (int)Math.PI;  // That is, 3
    void printThree() { System.out.println(three); }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Test t = new Test();
        t.printThree();
    }
}


This program produces the output:

0
3


This shows that the invocation of printThree in the constructor for class Super does not invoke the definition of printThree in class Super, but rather invokes the overriding definition of printThree in class Test. This method therefore runs before the field initializers of Test have been executed, which is why the first value output is 0, the default value to which the field three of Test is initialized. The later invocation of printThree in method main invokes the same definition of printThree, but by that point the initializer for instance variable three has been executed, and so the value 3 is printed.




Example 12.5-3. Initialization of Fields in the Prologue


class Super {
    Super() { printThree(); }
    void printThree() { System.out.println("three"); }
}
class Test extends Super {
    int three;

    public Test() {
        three = (int)Math.PI;  // That is, 3
        super();
    }

    void printThree() { System.out.println(three); }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Test t = new Test();
        t.printThree();
    }
}



This alternative to Example 12.5-2 produces the output:

3
3


Because the field three is initialized in the prologue of the Test constructor, its assignment occurs in Step 3 of the object initialization procedure, before execution of the Super constructor in Step 4. When three is initialized in this way, it is impossible to observe it with the default value 0.



12.6. Finalization of Class Instances

As of Java SE 25, the Java SE Platform Specification allows finalization of class instances to be disabled in an implementation of the Java SE Platform, in anticipation of the removal of finalization from a future release of the Java SE Platform.

The class Object has a protected method called finalize; this method can be overridden by other classes. The particular definition of finalize that can be invoked for an object is called the finalizer of that object. Before the storage for an object is reclaimed by the garbage collector, the Java Virtual Machine will invoke the finalizer of that object.

Finalizers provide a chance to free up resources that cannot be freed automatically by an automatic storage manager. In such situations, simply reclaiming the memory used by an object would not guarantee that the resources it held would be reclaimed.

The Java programming language does not specify how soon a finalizer will be invoked, except to say that it will happen before the storage for the object is reused.

The Java programming language does not specify which thread will invoke the finalizer for any given object.

It is important to note that many finalizer threads may be active (this is sometimes needed on large shared memory multiprocessors), and that if a large connected data structure becomes garbage, all of the finalize methods for every object in that data structure could be invoked at the same time, each finalizer invocation running in a different thread.

The Java programming language imposes no ordering on finalize method calls. Finalizers may be called in any order, or even concurrently.

As an example, if a circularly linked group of unfinalized objects becomes unreachable (or finalizer-reachable), then all the objects may become finalizable together. Eventually, the finalizers for these objects may be invoked, in any order, or even concurrently using multiple threads. If the automatic storage manager later finds that the objects are unreachable, then their storage can be reclaimed.

It is straightforward to implement a class that will cause a set of finalizer-like methods to be invoked in a specified order for a set of objects when all the objects become unreachable. Defining such a class is left as an exercise for the reader.

It is guaranteed that the thread that invokes the finalizer will not be holding any user-visible synchronization locks when the finalizer is invoked.

If an uncaught exception is thrown during the finalization, the exception is ignored and finalization of that object terminates.

The completion of an object's constructor happens-before (§17.4.5) the execution of its finalize method (in the formal sense of happens-before).

The finalize method declared in class Object takes no action. The fact that class Object declares a finalize method means that the finalize method for any class can always invoke the finalize method for its superclass. This should always be done, unless it is the programmer's intent to nullify the actions of the finalizer in the superclass. (Unlike constructors, finalizers do not automatically invoke the finalizer for the superclass; such an invocation must be coded explicitly.)

For efficiency, an implementation may keep track of classes that do not override the finalize method of class Object, or override it in a trivial way.

For example:


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



We encourage implementations to treat such objects as having a finalizer that is not overridden, and to finalize them more efficiently, as described in §12.6.1.

A finalizer may be invoked explicitly, just like any other method.

The package java.lang.ref describes weak references, which interact with garbage collection and finalization. As with any API that has special interactions with the Java programming language, implementors must be cognizant of any requirements imposed by the java.lang.ref API. This specification does not discuss weak references in any way. Readers are referred to the API documentation for details.

12.6.1. Implementing Finalization

Every object can be characterized by two attributes: it may be reachable, finalizer-reachable, or unreachable, and it may also be unfinalized, finalizable, or finalized.

A reachable object is any object that can be accessed in any potential continuing computation from any live thread.

A finalizer-reachable object can be reached from some finalizable object through some chain of references, but not from any live thread.

An unreachable object cannot be reached by either means.

An unfinalized object has never had its finalizer automatically invoked.

A finalized object has had its finalizer automatically invoked.

A finalizable object has never had its finalizer automatically invoked, but the Java Virtual Machine may eventually automatically invoke its finalizer.

An object o is not finalizable until its constructor has invoked the constructor for Object on o and that invocation has completed successfully (that is, without throwing an exception). Every pre-finalization write to a field of an object must be visible to the finalization of that object. Furthermore, none of the pre-finalization reads of fields of that object may see writes that occur after finalization of that object is initiated.

Optimizing transformations of a program can be designed that reduce the number of objects that are reachable to be less than those which would naively be considered reachable. For example, a Java compiler or code generator may choose to set a variable or parameter that will no longer be used to null to cause the storage for such an object to be potentially reclaimable sooner.

Another example of this occurs if the values in an object's fields are stored in registers. The program may then access the registers instead of the object, and never access the object again. This would imply that the object is garbage. Note that this sort of optimization is only allowed if references are on the stack, not stored in the heap.

For example, consider the Finalizer Guardian pattern:


class Foo {
    private final Object finalizerGuardian = new Object() {
        protected void finalize() throws Throwable {
            /* finalize outer Foo object */
        }
    }
}



The finalizer guardian forces super.finalize to be called if a subclass overrides finalize and does not explicitly call super.finalize.

If these optimizations are allowed for references that are stored on the heap, then a Java compiler can detect that the finalizerGuardian field is never read, null it out, collect the object immediately, and call the finalizer early. This runs counter to the intent: the programmer probably wanted to call the Foo finalizer when the Foo instance became unreachable. This sort of transformation is therefore not legal: the inner class object should be reachable for as long as the outer class object is reachable.

Transformations of this sort may result in invocations of the finalize method occurring earlier than might be otherwise expected. In order to allow the user to prevent this, we enforce the notion that synchronization may keep the object alive. If an object's finalizer can result in synchronization on that object, then that object must be alive and considered reachable whenever a lock is held on it.

Note that this does not prevent synchronization elimination: synchronization only keeps an object alive if a finalizer might synchronize on it. Since the finalizer occurs in another thread, in many cases the synchronization could not be removed anyway.

12.6.2. Interaction with the Memory Model

It must be possible for the memory model (§17.4) to decide when it can commit actions that take place in a finalizer. This section describes the interaction of finalization with the memory model.

Each execution has a number of reachability decision points, labeled di. Each action either comes-before di or comes-after di. Other than as explicitly mentioned, the comes-before ordering described in this section is unrelated to all other orderings in the memory model.

If r is a read that sees a write w and r comes-before di, then w must come-before di.

If x and y are synchronization actions on the same variable or monitor such that so(x, y) (§17.4.4) and y comes-before di, then x must come-before di.

At each reachability decision point, some set of objects are marked as unreachable, and some subset of those objects are marked as finalizable. These reachability decision points are also the points at which references are checked, enqueued, and cleared according to the rules provided in the API documentation for the package java.lang.ref.

The only objects that are considered definitely reachable at a point di are those that can be shown to be reachable by the application of these rules:

An object B is definitely reachable at di from static fields if there exists a write w1 to a static field v of a class C such that the value written by w1 is a reference to B, the class C is loaded by a reachable classloader, and there does not exist a write w2 to v such that hb(w2, w1) is not true and both w1 and w2 come-before di.

An object B is definitely reachable from A at di if there is a write w1 to an element v of A such that the value written by w1 is a reference to B and there does not exist a write w2 to v such that hb(w2, w1) is not true and both w1 and w2 come-before di.

If an object C is definitely reachable from an object B, and object B is definitely reachable from an object A, then C is definitely reachable from A.

If an object X is marked as unreachable at di, then:

X must not be definitely reachable at di from static fields; and

All active uses of X in thread t that come-after di must occur in the finalizer invocation for X or as a result of thread t performing a read that comes-after di of a reference to X; and

All reads that come-after di that see a reference to X must see writes to elements of objects that were unreachable at di, or see writes that came-after di.

An action a is an active use of X if and only if at least one of the following is true:

a reads or writes an element of X

a locks or unlocks X and there is a lock action on X that happens-after the invocation of the finalizer for X

a writes a reference to X

a is an active use of an object Y, and X is definitely reachable from Y

If an object X is marked as finalizable at di, then:

X must be marked as unreachable at di; and

di must be the only place where X is marked as finalizable; and

actions that happen-after the finalizer invocation must come-after di.

12.7. Unloading of Classes and Interfaces

An implementation of the Java programming language may unload classes.

A class or interface may be unloaded if and only if its defining class loader may be reclaimed by the garbage collector as discussed in §12.6.

Classes and interfaces loaded by the bootstrap loader may not be unloaded.

Class unloading is an optimization that helps reduce memory use. Obviously, the semantics of a program should not depend on whether and how a system chooses to implement an optimization such as class unloading. To do otherwise would compromise the portability of programs. Consequently, whether a class or interface has been unloaded or not should be transparent to a program.

However, if a class or interface C was unloaded while its defining loader was potentially reachable, then C might be reloaded. One could never ensure that this would not happen. Even if the class was not referenced by any other currently loaded class, it might be referenced by some class or interface, D, that had not yet been loaded. When D is loaded by C's defining loader, its execution might cause reloading of C.

Reloading may not be transparent if, for example, the class has static variables (whose state would be lost), static initializers (which may have side effects), or native methods (which may retain static state). Furthermore, the hash value of the Class object is dependent on its identity. Therefore it is, in general, impossible to reload a class or interface in a completely transparent manner.

Since we can never guarantee that unloading a class or interface whose loader is potentially reachable will not cause reloading, and reloading is never transparent, but unloading must be transparent, it follows that one must not unload a class or interface while its loader is potentially reachable. A similar line of reasoning can be used to deduce that classes and interfaces loaded by the bootstrap loader can never be unloaded.

One must also argue why it is safe to unload a class C if its defining class loader can be reclaimed. If the defining loader can be reclaimed, then there can never be any live references to it (this includes references that are not live, but might be resurrected by finalizers). This, in turn, can only be true if there are can never be any live references to any of the classes defined by that loader, including C, either from their instances or from code.

Class unloading is an optimization that is only significant for applications that load large numbers of classes and that stop using most of those classes after some time. A prime example of such an application is a web browser, but there are others. A characteristic of such applications is that they manage classes through explicit use of class loaders. As a result, the policy outlined above works well for them.

Strictly speaking, it is not essential that the issue of class unloading be discussed by this specification, as class unloading is merely an optimization. However, the issue is very subtle, and so it is mentioned here by way of clarification.

12.8. Program Exit

A program consists of one or more threads of execution. A thread is either a non-daemon thread, a daemon thread, or a shutdown hook.

Readers are referred to the API specifications of Thread and Runtime for details of how threads obtain daemon status, and how shutdown hooks are registered.

A thread terminates if either (i) its run method completes normally, or (ii) its run method completes abruptly and the relevant uncaught exception handler (§11.3) completes normally or abruptly. With no code left to run, the thread has completed execution and therefore has no current method (JVMS §2.5.1).

A program exits when one of the following situations has occurred:

All of its non-daemon threads have terminated, and all of the shutdown hooks which consequently were started by the Java Virtual Machine, if any, have terminated.

A thread invoked System.exit or Runtime.exit, and all of the shutdown hooks which consequently were started by the Java Virtual Machine, if any, have terminated.

A thread invoked Runtime.halt. (No shutdown hooks are started in this situation.)

The Java Virtual Machine implementation recognized an external event as requesting termination of the Java Virtual Machine, and all of the shutdown hooks which consequently were started by the Java Virtual Machine, if any, have terminated.

The nature of the event is outside the scope of this specification, but is necessarily something that a Java Virtual Machine implementation can handle reliably. An example is receiving a signal from the operating system.

An external event occurred that the Java Virtual Machine implementation cannot handle. (No shutdown hooks are started in this situation.)

The nature of the event is outside the scope of this specification, but is necessarily something that a Java Virtual Machine implementation cannot recognize or recover from in any way. Examples include a fatal error occurring in the process running the implementation, or power being removed from the computer running the implementation.

Upon program exit, any daemon or non-daemon thread that has not yet terminated will execute no further Java code. The current method of the thread does not complete normally or abruptly. No finally clause of any method in the thread is executed, nor any uncaught exception handler.

If program exit occurs because a thread invoked Runtime.halt while shutdown hooks were running, then, in addition to daemon and non-daemon threads, any shutdown hook that has not yet terminated will execute no further Java code.

Except for this unusual situation involving Runtime.halt, program exit depends on the termination of any shutdown hooks which were started. The rationale is as follows. When the number of non-daemon threads drops to zero or a thread invokes System.exit or Runtime.exit, it is likely that the program has no more work to do and is transitioning toward exit; however, the program may still have other threads that are performing ancillary tasks, and it would be undesirable to stop them in their tracks. Shutdown hooks let the program gracefully interrupt and bring down such threads in an application-specific manner; accordingly, the program has not yet exited if shutdown hooks are still running.

Native applications can use the JNI Invocation API to create and destroy the Java Virtual Machine in such a way that a Java program, having started execution in the main method of an initial class (§12.1), exits as described in the first situation above.