Editing JavaAPI (section)

===Class ‘Class’===

Java always maintains what is called run-time type information. You can access this information by working with the class Class and calling <Object>.getClass() or by <Object>.class. The class Class contains the following methods:

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|forName(String ClassName)
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|Method getDeclaredMethod(
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<MethodName>,\\\\<ArrayOfArgumentClasses>)|{| border=1 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0
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|getInterface()
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|getName()
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|getSuperClass()
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|isArray()
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|newInstance()
|this calls only the default ctor
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|isInterface()
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|toString()
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Interfaces are also stored in Class objects.

An object can also be created by a call to the newlnstance method of class Class, which performs these steps:

*A new object is created of the type represented by the class object for which the newlnstance method was invoked. As the new object is created, all its instance variables are initialized to their standard default values (§ Standard Default Values).
*The constructor for the newly created object is invoked with no actual arguments.
*After the constructor has returned, a reference to the newly created and initialized object is returned as the value of the call to the newlnstance method. The compile-time type of this reference will be Object, which is the declared return type of the newlnstance method, but its run-time type will be the type represented by the class object for which the newlnstance method was invoked.