Does Java have global variables?

Will Java ever support reference variables?

• I know arrays and objects are pass-by-reference. but i'm really referring to primitive data types. I've noticed that when it comes to data structure and memory management, the vast majority switches out to C++. Will Java ever support pointers, you think? I'd also like to know exactly how an object it removed off stack after it has nothing pointing to it since Java is a garbage-collection language.

• Answer:

  You have the primitive wrapper classes like Integer you can use on the rare occasions you need to treat a primitive as an object. It was an efficiency sacrifice the designers made. Pointers? No, and there's not much point. Pointers lead to some hairy memory management issues. Java objects are craeted on the heap, not the stack. Every time a new reference to an object is created, its reference count is incremented. When the reference's fall out of scope, the count is decremented. When the count hits zero, the object is made available for garbage collection. So: Object obj=new Object(); Object obja=obj; Object objb=obj; sets the reference count for the underlying object to 3.