Java's strange behavior while returning from finally block

Question

Try this piece of code. Why does getValueB() return 1 instead of 2? After all, the increment() function is getting called twice.

    public class ReturningF         


        

Answer 1

The purpose of the finally method is to ensure that ressources are closed in any case. Consider the example:

public List getPersons() {
    Connection conn = openConnection();
    try {
        return selectPersons(conn);
    } finally {
        conn.close()
    }
}

The conn.close() statement is executed AFTER selectPersons(conn) is executed. Otherwise selectPersons(conn) would raise an connection closed error.