How and when does the garbage collector start working in Kotlin?

The JVM garbage collector automatically manages memory by freeing objects that are no longer referenced.

The operation of the garbage collector is not guaranteed to occur at a precise time. It runs as needed, when the system detects low free memory or in other situations determined by the JVM.

Factors influencing its activation:

• Available memory size: If free memory is low, the garbage collector is more likely to run.
• Application activity: Intensive object creation can lead to more frequent runs.
• JVM settings: There are parameters that affect the behavior of the garbage collector.

In Kotlin, as in Java, developers do not directly control garbage collection. Memory is freed automatically.

Example (Kotlin, does not directly influence GC, but shows that an object is ready for collection):

fun main() {
    var myObject: Any? = Any() // Create an object
    println(myObject) // Object exists

    myObject = null // Remove all references to the object
    // Now the object is ready for garbage collection
    // The garbage collector can run at any moment after this line
}