Java：将Array设置为null以释放内存

Question

I have an Android application where I allocate large arrays, fill them up, and throw them into buffers. After doing this, the arrays are lying around, doing nothing. Would setting them to null theoretically improve the performance of my app, or is the effect negligible/nonexistent?

Answer 1

Generally no, setting the array to null will not improve performance or memory use in any way.

The garbage collector will free up the memory when it decides that the object is no longer accessible. Explicitly setting a reference to null is a good signal to the garbage collector that the object is free-able, but if those arrays are already no longer being referenced anyway (because, say, their containing object is no longer referenced) then explicitly setting it to null won't make the garbage collection happen any more quickly.