Is Nullification Advisable?

Question

I don't mean to start a[nother] civil war over this issue, but should nullification be enforced or not?

While trying to fix a bug (that was fixed elsewise, as can be seen here), I added code like this in a couple of places to immediately and explicitly set some objects to null:

List<String> XMLFiles = CCRUtils.GetXMLFiles(fileType, @"\");
foreach (string fullXMLFilePath in XMLFiles)
{
    RESTfulMethods.SendXMLFile(fullXMLFilePath, uri, 500);
}
XMLFiles = null;

Now that I know that did not solve the problem I was having, should I just leave it, or remove this type of code?

Remove it, it's pointless. The garbage collector will do that anyway — Tim Schmelter, Mar 18 '14 at 23:08

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 18 '14 at 23:12

should nullification be enforced or not?

In general, it should not. There are very few circumstances where there is a reason to set a variable to null. As soon as the scope in which the variable is declared ends, the reference to the object will no longer be held.

Setting a variable to null after use is (almost) always just a misunderstanding of how the GC works, and serves no purpose.

Is Nullification Advisable?

1 Answers1