Patent ID: 7734667

Claim:
An information handling system comprising: one or more processors; a memory accessible by the processors; a middleware software application that runs on the operating system, the middleware software application including a garbage-collected heap; and a nullification tool for nullifying program references, the nullification tool comprising steps effective to: read, by a just in time compiler, one or more variables included in one or more activation records included in the middleware software application, wherein the variables reference one or more objects, the objects stored in the garbage-collected heap; identify, by the just in time compiler, a program statement in the middleware software application where a selected variable is last used; insert, by the just in time compiler, a nullification statement after the identified program statement, the nullification statement adapted to nullify the selected variable; write the activation records, the identified program statement, and the nullification statement to a resulting code file for the middleware software application; execute the middleware software application; during execution of the middleware software application, execute the nullification statement to nullify the selected variable; and after nullifying the selected variable, execute a garbage collection program to identify one of the objects that was previously referenced by the selected variable, and reclaim the memory occupied by the identified object.