Understanding long and short weak references

In the .NET runtime, there are two types of references: long weak references and short weak references. These are described in more detail here:

• Long weak reference: When the Finalize() method has been called on an object, a long weak reference is retained in memory. You specify true in the WeakReference constructor to define a long reference. A long weak reference can be recreated, although its state can be unpredictable. A short weak reference will be applied when an object’s type does not have a Finalize() method. The weak reference will only remain until its target is collected sometime after the finalizer is run. You will need to cast the target property of a WeakReference constructor to the type of an object if you want to create a strong weak reference that will be reused. When the object is collected, the Target property will be null. If it is not null, then you can continue to use the object because the application...