Clearing memory map of maps?

Question

Hi I have the following Class:
public class TestClass{
Map<String, Map<String, String>> aMap = new TreeMap<String, Map<String, String>>();
public void addStuff () {
//this adds things to aMap
public void clearMap() {
aMap = new TreeMap<String, Map<String, String>>();
Does my clearMap method make all memory used by this map ava. for garbage collection? What is the proper way to clear all memory to reset the aMap variable? Thanks.

Answer 1

user12374594 wrote:
What is the proper way to clear all memory to reset the aMap variable?There is no one proper way to clear it. You can do what you're doing, or you can simply call aMap.clear(). The only significant difference is whatever it means in terms of your class's semantics whether you have a completely new map or the original map with nothing in it.
However, one doesn't generally think in terms of "clearing memory" in Java. You hang on to a reference as long as you need to use it for your code to do its job, and when you no longer need it, you let the reference go. GC takes care of the rest, and it's not often that you have to even think about it.