[mhaymo]

Interesting article, but the distinction you're making is quite subtle. Using escape analysis, Java can avoid heap allocations by removing the creation of the Object altogether, treating its fields as if they were local variables which live in registers/the stack. The practical difference between that and simply allocating the object on the stack is that no space is required for the object header, and some reference-based operations are not possible.

[MaxBarraclough]

But the article states "Anything you create with new is always created on the heap."

[mhaymo]

Yes, but it then explains that escape analysis allows the runtime to avoid creating the Object entirely with scalar replacement. It's written in a confusing way, which is why I felt the need to clarify.

[MaxBarraclough]

Ugh, you're right, of course.

In my defence the sentence I quoted isn't so much deliberately misleading, as outright false. It essentially states that 'new' always results in a heap allocation, which just isn't true.

A profoundly unhelpful writing style, going out of its way to punish skim-readers. I'm reminded of this TV Tropes page: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ByNoIMeanYes