How does Java Garbage Collection work with Circular References?

Question

From my understanding, garbage collection in Java cleans up some objects if nothing else is \'pointing\' to that object.

My question is, what happens if we have some

Answer 1

This article (no longer available) goes into depth about the garbage collector (conceptually... there are several implementations). The relevant part to your post is "A.3.4 Unreachable":

A.3.4 Unreachable An object enters an unreachable state when no more strong references to it exist. When an object is unreachable, it is a candidate for collection. Note the wording: Just because an object is a candidate for collection doesn't mean it will be immediately collected. The JVM is free to delay collection until there is an immediate need for the memory being consumed by the object.