I'm not an expert on the correct terminology but could you say that a reference is abstract from the user's point of view, in that you can't do math with it or do anything with it's value, except dereference it. it could be implemented as a real pointer, but that's a JVM detail you don't need to know about. so it could be a double indirect pointer or something strange, but for efficiency i assumed modern JVMs use real pointers and were smart enough to track usages and update references when an object is compact collected... but i assume a lot of wrong things. :)
>> And the million dollar question: Why, if Java does not have pointers, >> can you get a NullPointerException? > They temporarily forgot that Java doesn't have pointers when they named > that exception. Or is it a pointer to a reference? or a reference to a pointer? or a preference? or a rointer? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
