SoftReference is designed for caches. When it is found that a WeakReference references an otherwise unreachable object, then it will get cleared immediately. SoftReference may be left as is. Typically there is some algorithm relating to the amount of free memory and the time last used to determine whether it should be cleared. The current Sun algorithm is to clear the reference if it has not been used in as many seconds as there are megabytes of memory free on the Java heap (configurable, server HotSpot checks against maximum possible heap as set by -Xmx). SoftReferences will be cleared before OutOfMemoryError is thrown, unless otherwise reachable.

应该注意，弱引用对象只有在只有弱引用时才会被收集。如果它有一个强引用，那么无论它有多少弱引用，它都不会被收集。

Java中的六种对象可达性状态:

Strongly reachable objects - GC will not collect (reclaim the memory occupied by) this kind of object. These are reachable via a root node or another strongly reachable object (i.e. via local variables, class variables, instance variables, etc.) Softly reachable objects - GC may attempt to collect this kind of object depending on memory contention. These are reachable from the root via one or more soft reference objects Weakly reachable objects - GC must collect this kind of object. These are reachable from the root via one or more weak reference objects Resurrect-able objects - GC is already in the process of collecting these objects. But they may go back to one of the states - Strong/Soft/Weak by the execution of some finalizer Phantomly reachable object - GC is already in the process of collecting these objects and has determined to not be resurrect-able by any finalizer (if it declares a finalize() method itself, then its finalizer will have been run). These are reachable from the root via one or more phantom reference objects Unreachable object - An object is neither strongly, softly, weakly, nor phantom reachable, and is not resurrectable. These objects are ready for reclamation

欲了解更多详细信息:https://www.artima.com/insidejvm/ed2/gc16.html«崩溃

在Java中;从强到弱依次为:强、软、弱、幻

强引用是一种普通引用，用于保护被引用的对象不被GC收集。即从不收集垃圾。

软引用可以被垃圾回收器收集，但可能直到需要它的内存时才会被收集。即在OutOfMemoryError之前进行垃圾收集。

弱引用是指不保护被引用对象不被GC收集的引用。即，当没有强或软引用时，垃圾收集。

幻影引用是在对象完成后，但在已分配的内存被回收之前，对对象的幻影引用。

源

类比:假设JVM是一个王国，对象是王国的国王，GC是王国的攻击者，试图杀死国王(对象)。

当国王强大时，GC不能杀死他。 当国王是软的，GC攻击他，但国王统治王国的保护，直到资源可用。 当国王虚弱时，GC攻击他，但在没有保护的情况下统治王国。 当国王是幻影时，GC已经杀死了他，但国王可以通过他的灵魂获得。

这篇文章对于理解强引用、软引用、弱引用和幻影引用非常有帮助。

总结一下，

如果对一个对象只有弱引用(没有强引用)，那么该对象将在下一个GC循环中被GC回收。

如果对对象只有软引用(没有强引用)，那么只有当JVM内存耗尽时，GC才会回收该对象。

所以你可以说，强引用具有强大的功能(GC永远不会收集)。

软引用比弱引用更强大(因为它们可以逃避GC循环，直到JVM耗尽内存)

弱引用甚至不如软引用强大(因为它们不能逃避任何GC循环，如果对象没有其他强引用，就会被回收)。

餐厅的类比

服务员- GC 堆中的对象 餐厅区域/空间-堆空间 新客户-在餐厅想要桌子的新对象

现在，如果您是一个强客户(类似于强引用)，那么即使餐厅里来了一个新客户或发生了其他事情，您也不会离开您的表(堆上的内存区域)。服务员没有权利告诉你(甚至要求你)离开餐厅。

如果你是一个软顾客(类似于软参考)，那么如果餐厅来了一个新顾客，服务员不会让你离开桌子，除非没有其他空桌子来容纳新顾客。(换句话说，只有当一个新顾客进来，并且没有其他的桌子给这个新顾客时，服务员才会叫你离开桌子)

如果你是一个弱顾客(类似于弱参考)，那么服务员可以根据他的意愿(在任何时候)要求你离开餐厅:P

为了给出一个动态内存使用方面，我做了一个实验，在重物的重负载下，将强、软、弱和幻影引用保留到程序结束。然后监控堆使用和GC行为。这些指标可能因情况而异，但肯定能提供高层次的理解。以下是调查结果。

重负载下的堆和GC行为

Strong/Hard Reference - As program continued, JVM couldn't collect retained strong referenced object. Eventually ended up in "java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space" Soft Reference - As program continued, heap usage kept growing, but OLD gen GC happened hen it was nearing max heap. GC started bit later in time after starting program. Weak Reference - As program started, objects started finalizing & getting collected almost immediately. Mostly objects got collected in young generation garbage collection. Phantom Reference - Similar to weak reference, phantom referenced objects also started getting finalized & garbage collected immediately. There were no old generation GC & all objects were getting collected in young generation garbage collection itself.

你可以在这里获得更多关于这个实验的深度图表、统计数据和观察结果。