Editing Comparison of C Sharp and Java (section)

=== Reference types ===
In both languages [[Reference (computer science)|references]] are a central concept. All instances of classes are ''by reference''.

While not directly evident in the language [[Syntax (programming languages)|syntax]] ''per se'', both languages support the concept of [[weak reference|''weak'' references]]. An instance that is only referenced by weak references is eligible for garbage collection just as if there were no references at all. In both languages this feature is exposed through the associated libraries, even though it is really a core runtime feature.

Along with weak references, Java has ''[[soft reference]]s''. They are much like weak references, but the [[Java virtual machine]] (JVM) will not deallocate softly-referenced objects until the memory is needed.

{| class="wikitable" style="width:80%;"
|-
! style="width:40%;"| Reference types !! style="width:30%;"|Java !! style="width:30%;"|C#
|-
| [[Garbage collection (computer science)|Garbage collection]] || {{yes}} || {{yes}}
|-
| [[Weak reference]]s || {{yes}} || {{yes}}
|-
| Reference queue (interaction with garbage collection) || {{yes}} || {{yes}}
|-
| [[Soft reference]]s || {{yes}} || {{no}}
|-
| [[Phantom reference]]s || {{yes}} || {{no}}
|-
| [[Proxy pattern|Proxy support]] || {{yes}}; proxy generation || {{yes}}; object contexts
|}