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What is Garbage Collection in Java? | Interview Question | TechyTalkWithDev

Core Java Interview Questions

253 Questions

What are the main memory areas managed by the JVM?

What is Garbage Collection in Java?

How does Garbage Collection actually work in Java (mark and sweep)?

What are the different types of garbage collectors available in the JVM?

What is the difference between Young Generation and Old Generation in the heap?

What is the difference between a Minor GC and a Major (Full) GC?

What makes an object eligible for garbage collection in Java?

What is the difference between strong, weak, soft, and phantom references?

What is a memory leak in Java and how can it happen despite garbage collection?

What is a StackOverflowError and when does it occur?

What is an OutOfMemoryError and what are common causes?

What is the difference between stack memory and heap memory in Java?

What is escape analysis in the JVM?

What is the difference between calling System.gc() and actual garbage collection?

What is the finalize() method and why is it deprecated?

What is Metaspace and how does it differ from the old PermGen?

What is the difference between shallow size and deep/retained size of an object?

What do the -Xms and -Xmx JVM flags control?

Interview questions

Question 173 of 253

Free

What is Garbage Collection in Java?

Memory Management & JVM

Garbage Collection (GC) is the JVM's automatic process of identifying objects on the heap that are no longer reachable from any live reference and reclaiming their memory, freeing developers from manually deallocating memory (unlike C/C++).

Beginner3 min

TCS

Infosys

Wipro

Capgemini

Accenture

#Garbage Collection

What is Garbage Collection in Java?

What Java Trades for This Convenience

In exchange for not manually managing memory, Java gives up precise control over exactly *when* an object's memory is reclaimed — GC runs on its own schedule, which is why it can introduce unpredictable pause times, and why performance-critical or real-time systems sometimes need to carefully tune or even avoid certain GC behaviors.

Unreachable objects are found automatically and their memory is reclaimed — no manual free()

Unreachable objects are found automatically and their memory is reclaimed — no manual free()