finalize()

    protected void finalize() throws Throwable {}

• every class inherits the finalize() method from java.lang.Object
• the method is called by the garbage collector when it determines no more references to the object exist
• the Object finalize method performs no actions but it may be overridden by any class
• normally it should be overridden to clean-up non-Java resources ie closing a file
• if overridding finalize() it is good programming practice to use a try-catch-finally statement and to always call super.finalize() (JPL pg 47-48). This is a saftey measure to ensure you do not inadvertently miss closing a resource used by the objects calling class

protected void finalize() throws Throwable {
   try {
       close();        // close open files
   } finally {
       super.finalize();
   }
}

• any exception thrown by finalize() during garbage collection halts the finalization but is otherwise ignored
• finalize() is never run more than once on any object