Why is the finalize() method in java.lang.Object “protected”?

Question

Out of curiosity,

Why is the finalize() method\'s access modifier is made as protected. Why cant it be public? Can someone exp

Answer 1

finalize() is only used by the JVM to clean up resources when the object is collected. It's reasonable for a class to define what actions should be taken on collection, for which it may need to access super.finalize(). It doesn't really make sense for an outside process to call finalize(), since an outside process doesn't have control over when the object is collected.