Assigning “null” to objects in every application after their use

Question

• Do you always assign null to an object after its scope has been reached?

• Or do you rely on the JVM for garbage collection?

Answer 1

• no, don't do that, except for specific cases such as static fields or when you know a variable/field lives a lot longer than the code referencing it
• yes, but with a working knowledge of your VM's limits (and how to cause blocks of memory to be held accidentally)
• n/a