Setting Objects to Null/Nothing after use in .NET

Karl is absolutely correct, there is no need to set objects to null after use. If an object implements IDisposable, just make sure you call IDisposable.Dispose() when you're done with that object (wrapped in a try..finally, or, a using() block). But even if you don't remember to call Dispose(), the finaliser method on the object should be calling Dispose() for you.

I thought this was a good treatment:

Digging into IDisposable

and this

Understanding IDisposable

There isn't any point in trying to second guess the GC and its management strategies because it's self tuning and opaque. There was a good discussion about the inner workings with Jeffrey Richter on Dot Net Rocks here: Jeffrey Richter on the Windows Memory Model and Richters book CLR via C# chapter 20 has a great treatment:

Another reason to avoid setting objects to null when you are done with them is that it can actually keep them alive for longer.

e.g.

void foo()
{
    var someType = new SomeType();
    someType.DoSomething();
    // someType is now eligible for garbage collection         

    // ... rest of method not using 'someType' ...
}

will allow the object referred by someType to be GC'd after the call to "DoSomething" but

void foo()
{
    var someType = new SomeType();
    someType.DoSomething();
    // someType is NOT eligible for garbage collection yet
    // because that variable is used at the end of the method         

    // ... rest of method not using 'someType' ...
    someType = null;
}

may sometimes keep the object alive until the end of the method. The JIT will usually optimized away the assignment to null, so both bits of code end up being the same.

No don't null objects. You can check out https://web.archive.org/web/20160325050833/http://codebetter.com/karlseguin/2008/04/28/foundations-of-programming-pt-7-back-to-basics-memory/ for more information, but setting things to null won't do anything, except dirty your code.