recycling : Java Glossary

by Roedy Green ©1996-2008 Canadian Mind Products
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recycling

The usual Java programming style creates objects in profusion then almost immediately abandons them. This creates need for frequent garbage collection. If it does not disturb your programming logic, sometimes it makes sense to recycle Objects. You might reuse the same StringBuilder over and over by using the setLength( 0 ). Realise though that the internal buffer will grow to the size of the biggest string you ever composed. Here is a wrapper class I use to do that:

You can reuse an ArrayList with ArrayList.clear().

The drawback is the runtime won’t warn you if you reuse an object without clearing it first. If you always get a new on, NullPointerException will warn you if you fail to allocate.

Plastic Recycling

Plastics are often marked with a Resin Code to indicate how they should be recycled.

Resin Plastic Recycling Codes
Resin Code	Technical Name	Typical Uses
	PETE, Polyethylene Terephthalate	soft drink bottles, deli trays, Mylar film, clear shampoo bottles, mouthwash bottles.
	HDPE, High-Density Polyethylene	Tupperware, milk jugs, dishwashing detergent containers, juice containers, opaque shampoo bottles, oven cleaner bottles, insecticide bottles, yogurt containers
	PVC, Polyvinyl Chloride	plumbing pipes, construction materials, vinyl records, opaque shampoo bottles,
	LDPE, Low-Density Polyethylene	grocery bags, dry cleaning bags, aquarium tubing.
	PP, Polypropylene	appliance parts, Tic Tac hinge lids, drinking glasses, mustard squeeze bottles, margarine containers, pudding containers
	PS, Polystyrene	styrofoam cups.
	Other plastics, including acrylic, polycarbonate, nylon, Kevlar, fiberglass.	compact discs, DVDs.

garbage collection
object pooling

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