Java – how many objects are created

I'm discussing how to use strings and stringbuffers in Java How many objects were created in each of these two examples?

Example 1:

String s = "a";
s = s + "b";
s = s + "c";

Example 2:

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder("a");
sb.append("b");
sb.append("c");

In my opinion, ex 1 will create 5 and ex 2 will create 4 objects

Solution

You can determine the answer by analyzing the Java bytecode (using javap - C) Example 1 creates two StringBuilder objects (see line 4) and two string objects (see line 7), while example 2 creates a StringBuilder object (see line 2)

Note that you must also consider char [] objects (because arrays are objects in Java) Both string and StringBuilder objects are implemented using the underlying char [] Therefore, example 1 creates eight objects and example 2 creates two objects

Example 1:

public static void main(java.lang.String[]);
  Code:
   0:   ldc             #2; //String a
   2:   astore_1
   3:   new             #3; //class java/lang/StringBuilder
   6:   dup
   7:   invokespecial   #4; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder."<init>":()V
   10:  aload_1
   11:  invokevirtual   #5; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.append:(Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/StringBuilder;
   14:  ldc             #6; //String b
   16:  invokevirtual   #5; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.append:(Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/StringBuilder;
   19:  invokevirtual   #7; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.toString:()Ljava/lang/String;
   22:  astore_1
   23:  new             #3; //class java/lang/StringBuilder
   26:  dup
   27:  invokespecial   #4; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder."<init>":()V
   30:  aload_1
   31:  invokevirtual   #5; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.append:(Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/StringBuilder;
   34:  ldc             #8; //String c
   36:  invokevirtual   #5; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.append:(Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/StringBuilder;
   39:  invokevirtual   #7; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.toString:()Ljava/lang/String;
   42:  astore_1
   43:  return   
}

Example 2:

public static void main(java.lang.String[]);
  Code:
   0:   new             #2; //class java/lang/StringBuilder
   3:   dup
   4:   ldc             #3; //String a
   6:   invokespecial   #4; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder."<init>":(Ljava/lang/String;)V
   9:   astore_1
   10:  aload_1
   11:  ldc             #5; //String b
   13:  invokevirtual   #6; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.append:(Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/StringBuilder;
   16:  pop
   17:  aload_1
   18:  ldc             #7; //String c
   20:  invokevirtual   #6; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.append:(Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/StringBuilder;
   23:  pop
   24:  return  
}