Finalize vs Dispose

The finalizer method is called when your object is garbage collected and you have no guarantee when this will happen (you can force it, but it will hurt performance).

The Dispose method on the other hand is meant to be called by the code that created your class so that you can clean up and release any resources you have acquired (unmanaged data, database connections, file handles, etc) the moment the code is done with your object.

The standard practice is to implement IDisposable and Dispose so that you can use your object in a using statment. Such as using(var foo = new MyObject()) { }. And in your finalizer, you call Dispose, just in case the calling code forgot to dispose of you.

Others have already covered the difference between Dispose and Finalize (btw the Finalize method is still called a destructor in the language specification), so I'll just add a little about the scenarios where the Finalize method comes in handy.

Some types encapsulate disposable resources in a manner where it is easy to use and dispose of them in a single action. The general usage is often like this: open, read or write, close (Dispose). It fits very well with the using construct.

Others are a bit more difficult. WaitEventHandles for instances are not used like this as they are used to signal from one thread to another. The question then becomes who should call Dispose on these? As a safeguard types like these implement a Finalize method, which makes sure resources are disposed when the instance is no longer referenced by the application.

Finalize is the backstop method, called by the garbage collector when it reclaims an object. Dispose is the "deterministic cleanup" method, called by applications to release valuable native resources (window handles, database connections, etc.) when they are no longer needed, rather than leaving them held indefinitely until the GC gets round to the object.

As the user of an object, you always use Dispose. Finalize is for the GC.

As the implementer of a class, if you hold managed resources that ought to be disposed, you implement Dispose. If you hold native resources, you implement both Dispose and Finalize, and both call a common method that releases the native resources. These idioms are typically combined through a private Dispose(bool disposing) method, which Dispose calls with true, and Finalize calls with false. This method always frees native resources, then checks the disposing parameter, and if it is true it disposes managed resources and calls GC.SuppressFinalize.

Finalize gets called by the GC when this object is no longer in use.

Dispose is just a normal method which the user of this class can call to release any resources.

If user forgot to call Dispose and if the class have Finalize implemented then GC will make sure it gets called.

99% of the time, you should not have to worry about either. :) But, if your objects hold references to non-managed resources (window handles, file handles, for example), you need to provide a way for your managed object to release those resources. Finalize gives implicit control over releasing resources. It is called by the garbage collector. Dispose is a way to give explicit control over a release of resources and can be called directly.

There is much much more to learn about the subject of Garbage Collection, but that's a start.

The summary is -

• You write a finalizer for your class if it has reference to unmanaged resources and you want to make sure that those unmanaged resources are released when an instance of that class is garbage collected automatically. Note that you can't call the Finalizer of an object explicitly - it's called automatically by the garbage collector as and when it deems necessary.
• On the other hand, you implement the IDisposable interface(and consequently define the Dispose() method as a result for your class) when your class has reference to unmanaged resources, but you don't want to wait for the garbage collector to kick in (which can be anytime - not in control of the programmer) and want to release those resources as soon as you are done. Thus, you can explicitly release unmanaged resources by calling an object's Dispose() method.

Also, another difference is - in the Dispose() implementation, you should release managed resources as well, whereas that should not be done in the Finalizer. This is because it's very likely that the managed resources referenced by the object have already been cleaned up before it's ready to be finalized.

For a class that uses unmanaged resources, the best practice is to define both - the Dispose() method and the Finalizer - to be used as a fallback in case a developer forgets to explicitly dispose off the object. Both can use a shared method to clean up managed and unmanaged resources :-

class ClassWithDisposeAndFinalize : IDisposable
{
    // Used to determine if Dispose() has already been called, so that the finalizer
    // knows if it needs to clean up unmanaged resources.
     private bool disposed = false;

     public void Dispose()
     {
       // Call our shared helper method.
       // Specifying "true" signifies that the object user triggered the cleanup.
          CleanUp(true);

       // Now suppress finalization to make sure that the Finalize method 
       // doesn't attempt to clean up unmanaged resources.
          GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
     }
     private void CleanUp(bool disposing)
     {
        // Be sure we have not already been disposed!
        if (!this.disposed)
        {
             // If disposing equals true i.e. if disposed explicitly, dispose all 
             // managed resources.
            if (disposing)
            {
             // Dispose managed resources.
            }
             // Clean up unmanaged resources here.
        }
        disposed = true;
      }

      // the below is called the destructor or Finalizer
     ~ClassWithDisposeAndFinalize()
     {
        // Call our shared helper method.
        // Specifying "false" signifies that the GC triggered the cleanup.
        CleanUp(false);
     }

The main difference between Dispose and Finalize is that:

Dispose is usually called by your code. The resources are freed instantly when you call it. People forget to call the method, so using() {} statement is invented. When your program finishes the execution of the code inside the {}, it will call Dispose method automatically.

Finalize is not called by your code. It is mean to be called by the Garbage Collector (GC). That means the resource might be freed anytime in future whenever GC decides to do so. When GC does its work, it will go through many Finalize methods. If you have heavy logic in this, it will make the process slow. It may cause performance issues for your program. So be careful about what you put in there.

I personally would write most of the destruction logic in Dispose. Hopefully, this clears up the confusion.

I searched the answer to this question a lot today. I will share my learnings here. My answer is based on this link, because it has the clearest explanation I have seen.

When your objects has access to unmanaged resources, you have to manually release those resources. This can be done via IDisposable or finalizer meaning they both release unmanaged resources.

Rule of thumb: Implement IDisposable to release unmanaged resources and caller code must call Dispose method. If caller forgets to call Dispose() method, you still can provide a method to release those unmanaged resources. First option is using safe handle to wrap unmanaged resource. Second option is defining a finalizer. Using safe handle is recommended way in this case.

I think this link is the clearest answer to this question. I do not know why people provide complex explanations to this question on the internet. It made me feel confused until I find that link.

To answer on the first part you should provide examples where people use different approach for the exact same class-object. Otherwise it is difficult (or even strange) to answer.

As for the second question better read first this Proper use of the IDisposable interface which claims that

It's your choice! But choose Dispose.

In other words: The GC only knows about finalizer (if any. Also known as destructor to Microsoft). A good code will attempt to cleanup from both (finalizer and Dispose).