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You might think that, because Java enforces constructor chaining, that it would enforce finalizer chaining -- in other words, that a finalizer method for a subclass would automatically invoke the finalizer method for the superclass.

Java does not do this. You must do this explicitly, if you write a subclass finalizer method, and if you want this behavior.

Usually, the code will look as follows:

protected void finalize() throws Throwable
{
    /* ... */
    super.finalize();	// Typically the last line...
}

This page was last modified on 02 October, 2007