Class represent classes and
interfaces in a running Java application. An enum is a kind of
class and an annotation is a kind of interface. Every array also
belongs to a class that is reflected as a Class object
that is shared by all arrays with the same element type and number
of dimensions. The primitive Java types (boolean,
byte, char, short,
int, long, float, and
double), and the keyword void are also
represented as Class objects.
Class has no public constructor. Instead Class
objects are constructed automatically by the Java Virtual Machine as classes
are loaded and by calls to the defineClass method in the class
loader.
The following example uses a Class object to print the
class name of an object:
void printClassName(Object obj) {
System.out.println("The class of " + obj +
" is " + obj.getClass().getName());
}
It is also possible to get the Class object for a named
type (or for void) using a class literal
(JLS Section 15.8.2).
For example:
System.out.println("The name of class Foo is: "+Foo.class.getName());
<T> the type of the class modeled by this Class
object. For example, the type of String.class is Class<String>. Use Class<?> if the class being modeled is
unknown.ClassLoader.defineClass(byte[],int,int)getName. If this Class object represents a
primitive type, this method returns the name of the primitive type. If
this Class object represents void this method returns
"void".
Class object associated with the class or
interface with the given string name. Invoking this method is
equivalent to:
Class.forName(className, true, currentLoader)
where currentLoader denotes the defining class loader of
the current class.
For example, the following code fragment returns the
runtime Class descriptor for the class named
java.lang.Thread:
Class t = Class.forName("java.lang.Thread")
A call to forName("X") causes the class named
X to be initialized.
className the fully qualified name of the desired class.Class object for the class with the
specified name.LinkageError if the linkage failsExceptionInInitializerError if the initialization provoked
by this method failsClassNotFoundException if the class cannot be locatedClass object associated with the class or
interface with the given string name, using the given class loader.
Given the fully qualified name for a class or interface (in the same
format returned by getName) this method attempts to
locate, load, and link the class or interface. The specified class
loader is used to load the class or interface. If the parameter
loader is null, the class is loaded through the bootstrap
class loader. The class is initialized only if the
initialize parameter is true and if it has
not been initialized earlier.
If name denotes a primitive type or void, an attempt
will be made to locate a user-defined class in the unnamed package whose
name is name. Therefore, this method cannot be used to
obtain any of the Class objects representing primitive
types or void.
If name denotes an array class, the component type of
the array class is loaded but not initialized.
For example, in an instance method the expression:
Class.forName("Foo")
is equivalent to:
Class.forName("Foo", true, this.getClass().getClassLoader())
Note that this method throws errors related to loading, linking or
initializing as specified in Sections 12.2, 12.3 and 12.4 of The
Java Language Specification.
Note that this method does not check whether the requested class
is accessible to its caller.
If the loader is null, and a security
manager is present, and the caller's class loader is not null, then this
method calls the security manager's checkPermission method
with a RuntimePermission("getClassLoader") permission to
ensure it's ok to access the bootstrap class loader.
name fully qualified name of the desired classinitialize whether the class must be initializedloader class loader from which the class must be loadedLinkageError if the linkage failsExceptionInInitializerError if the initialization provoked
by this method failsClassNotFoundException if the class cannot be located by
the specified class loaderforName(java.lang.String)ClassLoaderClass
object. The class is instantiated as if by a new
expression with an empty argument list. The class is initialized if it
has not already been initialized.
Note that this method propagates any exception thrown by the
nullary constructor, including a checked exception. Use of
this method effectively bypasses the compile-time exception
checking that would otherwise be performed by the compiler.
The java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(java.lang.Object[])java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
IllegalAccessException if the class or its nullary
constructor is not accessible.InstantiationException
if this Class represents an abstract class,
an interface, an array class, a primitive type, or void;
or if the class has no nullary constructor;
or if the instantiation fails for some other reason.ExceptionInInitializerError if the initialization
provoked by this method fails.SecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.PUBLIC) denies
creation of new instances of this class
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
Object is assignment-compatible
with the object represented by this Class. This method is
the dynamic equivalent of the Java language instanceof
operator. The method returns true if the specified
Object argument is non-null and can be cast to the
reference type represented by this Class object without
raising a ClassCastException. It returns false
otherwise.
Specifically, if this Class object represents a
declared class, this method returns true if the specified
Object argument is an instance of the represented class (or
of any of its subclasses); it returns false otherwise. If
this Class object represents an array class, this method
returns true if the specified Object argument
can be converted to an object of the array class by an identity
conversion or by a widening reference conversion; it returns
false otherwise. If this Class object
represents an interface, this method returns true if the
class or any superclass of the specified Object argument
implements this interface; it returns false otherwise. If
this Class object represents a primitive type, this method
returns false.
obj the object to checkobj is an instance of this classClass object is either the same as, or is a superclass or
superinterface of, the class or interface represented by the specified
Class parameter. It returns true if so;
otherwise it returns false. If this Class
object represents a primitive type, this method returns
true if the specified Class parameter is
exactly this Class object; otherwise it returns
false.
Specifically, this method tests whether the type represented by the
specified Class parameter can be converted to the type
represented by this Class object via an identity conversion
or via a widening reference conversion. See The Java Language
Specification, sections 5.1.1 and 5.1.4 , for details.
cls the Class object to be checkedboolean value indicating whether objects of the
type cls can be assigned to objects of this classNullPointerException if the specified Class parameter is
null.Class object represents a
primitive type.
There are nine predefined Class objects to represent
the eight primitive types and void. These are created by the Java
Virtual Machine, and have the same names as the primitive types that
they represent, namely boolean, byte,
char, short, int,
long, float, and double.
These objects may only be accessed via the following public static
final variables, and are the only Class objects for which
this method returns true.
Boolean.TYPECharacter.TYPEByte.TYPEShort.TYPEInteger.TYPELong.TYPEFloat.TYPEDouble.TYPEVoid.TYPEClass object represents an annotation
type. Note that if this method returns true, isInterface()true if this class object represents an annotation
type; false otherwiseClass object,
as a String.
If this class object represents a reference type that is not an array type then the binary name of the class is returned, as specified by the Java Language Specification, Second Edition.
If this class object represents a primitive type or void, then the
name returned is a String equal to the Java language
keyword corresponding to the primitive type or void.
If this class object represents a class of arrays, then the internal
form of the name consists of the name of the element type preceded by
one or more '[' characters representing the depth of the array
nesting. The encoding of element type names is as follows:
Element Type    Encoding boolean    Z byte    B char    C class or interface    Lclassname; double    D float    F int    I long    J short    S
The class or interface name classname is the binary name of the class specified above.
Examples:
String.class.getName()
returns "java.lang.String"
byte.class.getName()
returns "byte"
(new Object[3]).getClass().getName()
returns "[Ljava.lang.Object;"
(new int[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]).getClass().getName()
returns "[[[[[[[I"
If a security manager is present, and the caller's class loader is
not null and the caller's class loader is not the same as or an ancestor of
the class loader for the class whose class loader is requested, then
this method calls the security manager's checkPermission
method with a RuntimePermission("getClassLoader")
permission to ensure it's ok to access the class loader for the class.
If this object represents a primitive type or void, null is returned.
SecurityException
if a security manager exists and its
checkPermission method denies
access to the class loader for the class.ClassLoaderSecurityManager.checkPermission(java.security.Permission)RuntimePermissionTypeVariable objects that represent the
type variables declared by the generic declaration represented by this
GenericDeclaration object, in declaration order. Returns an
array of length 0 if the underlying generic declaration declares no type
variables.
TypeVariable objects that represent
the type variables declared by this generic declarationGenericSignatureFormatError if the generic
signature of this generic declaration does not conform to
the format specified in the Java Virtual Machine Specification,
3rd editionClass representing the superclass of the entity
(class, interface, primitive type or void) represented by this
Class. If this Class represents either the
Object class, an interface, a primitive type, or void, then
null is returned. If this object represents an array class then the
Class object representing the Object class is
returned.
Type representing the direct superclass of
the entity (class, interface, primitive type or void) represented by
this Class.
If the superclass is a parameterized type, the Type
object returned must accurately reflect the actual type
parameters used in the source code. The parameterized type
representing the superclass is created if it had not been
created before. See the declaration of java.lang.reflect.ParameterizedTypeClass represents either the Object
class, an interface, a primitive type, or void, then null is
returned. If this object represents an array class then the
Class object representing the Object class is
returned.
GenericSignatureFormatError if the generic
class signature does not conform to the format specified in the
Java Virtual Machine Specification, 3rd editionTypeNotPresentException if the generic superclass
refers to a non-existent type declarationMalformedParameterizedTypeException if the
generic superclass refers to a parameterized type that cannot be
instantiated for any reasonPackages have attributes for versions and specifications only if the information was defined in the manifests that accompany the classes, and if the class loader created the package instance with the attributes from the manifest.
If this object represents a class, the return value is an array
containing objects representing all interfaces implemented by the
class. The order of the interface objects in the array corresponds to
the order of the interface names in the implements clause
of the declaration of the class represented by this object. For
example, given the declaration:
class Shimmer implements FloorWax, DessertTopping { ... }
suppose the value of s is an instance of
Shimmer; the value of the expression:
s.getClass().getInterfaces()[0]
is the Class object that represents interface
FloorWax; and the value of:
s.getClass().getInterfaces()[1]
is the Class object that represents interface
DessertTopping.
If this object represents an interface, the array contains objects
representing all interfaces extended by the interface. The order of the
interface objects in the array corresponds to the order of the interface
names in the extends clause of the declaration of the
interface represented by this object.
If this object represents a class or interface that implements no interfaces, the method returns an array of length 0.
If this object represents a primitive type or void, the method returns an array of length 0.
Types representing the interfaces
directly implemented by the class or interface represented by
this object.
If a superinterface is a parameterized type, the
Type object returned for it must accurately reflect
the actual type parameters used in the source code. The
parameterized type representing each superinterface is created
if it had not been created before. See the declaration of
ParameterizedType
for the semantics of the creation process for parameterized
types.
If this object represents a class, the return value is an
array containing objects representing all interfaces
implemented by the class. The order of the interface objects in
the array corresponds to the order of the interface names in
the implements clause of the declaration of the class
represented by this object. In the case of an array class, the
interfaces Cloneable and Serializable are
returned in that order.
If this object represents an interface, the array contains
objects representing all interfaces directly extended by the
interface. The order of the interface objects in the array
corresponds to the order of the interface names in the
extends clause of the declaration of the interface
represented by this object.
If this object represents a class or interface that implements no interfaces, the method returns an array of length 0.
If this object represents a primitive type or void, the method returns an array of length 0.
GenericSignatureFormatError
if the generic class signature does not conform to the format
specified in the Java Virtual Machine Specification, 3rd editionTypeNotPresentException if any of the generic
superinterfaces refers to a non-existent type declarationMalformedParameterizedTypeException if any of the
generic superinterfaces refer to a parameterized type that cannot
be instantiated for any reasonClass representing the component type of an
array. If this class does not represent an array class this method
returns null.
Class representing the component type of this
class if this class is an arrayjava.lang.reflect.Arraypublic, protected,
private, final, static,
abstract and interface; they should be decoded
using the methods of class Modifier.
If the underlying class is an array class, then its
public, private and protected
modifiers are the same as those of its component type. If this
Class represents a primitive type or void, its
public modifier is always true, and its
protected and private modifiers are always
false. If this object represents an array class, a
primitive type or void, then its final modifier is always
true and its interface modifier is always
false. The values of its other modifiers are not determined
by this specification.
The modifier encodings are defined in The Java Virtual Machine Specification, table 4.1.
int representing the modifiers for this classjava.lang.reflect.ModifierClass object represents a local or anonymous
class within a method, returns a java.lang.reflect.Methodnull otherwise.
In particular, this method returns null if the underlying
class is a local or anonymous class immediately enclosed by a type
declaration, instance initializer or static initializer.
null.Class object represents a local or anonymous
class within a constructor, returns a java.lang.reflect.Constructornull otherwise. In particular, this
method returns null if the underlying class is a local
or anonymous class immediately enclosed by a type declaration,
instance initializer or static initializer.
null.Class object
is a member of another class, returns the Class object
representing the class in which it was declared. This method returns
null if this class or interface is not a member of any other class. If
this Class object represents an array class, a primitive
type, or void,then this method returns null.
The simple name of an array is the simple name of the component type with "[]" appended. In particular the simple name of an array whose component type is anonymous is "[]".
null otherwise.Class objects representing all
the public classes and interfaces that are members of the class
represented by this Class object. This includes public
class and interface members inherited from superclasses and public class
and interface members declared by the class. This method returns an
array of length 0 if this Class object has no public member
classes or interfaces. This method also returns an array of length 0 if
this Class object represents a primitive type, an array
class, or void.
Class objects representing the public
members of this classSecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.PUBLIC) method
denies access to the classes within this class
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
Field objects reflecting all
the accessible public fields of the class or interface represented by
this Class object. The elements in the array returned are
not sorted and are not in any particular order. This method returns an
array of length 0 if the class or interface has no accessible public
fields, or if it represents an array class, a primitive type, or void.
Specifically, if this Class object represents a class,
this method returns the public fields of this class and of all its
superclasses. If this Class object represents an
interface, this method returns the fields of this interface and of all
its superinterfaces.
The implicit length field for array class is not reflected by this
method. User code should use the methods of class Array to
manipulate arrays.
See The Java Language Specification, sections 8.2 and 8.3.
Field objects representing the
public fieldsSecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.PUBLIC) denies
access to the fields within this class
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
Method objects reflecting all
the public member methods of the class or interface represented
by this Class object, including those declared by the class
or interface and those inherited from superclasses and
superinterfaces. Array classes return all the (public) member methods
inherited from the Object class. The elements in the array
returned are not sorted and are not in any particular order. This
method returns an array of length 0 if this Class object
represents a class or interface that has no public member methods, or if
this Class object represents a primitive type or void.
The class initialization method <clinit> is not
included in the returned array. If the class declares multiple public
member methods with the same parameter types, they are all included in
the returned array.
See The Java Language Specification, sections 8.2 and 8.4.
Method objects representing the
public methods of this classSecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.PUBLIC) denies
access to the methods within this class
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
Constructor objects reflecting
all the public constructors of the class represented by this
Class object. An array of length 0 is returned if the
class has no public constructors, or if the class is an array class, or
if the class reflects a primitive type or void.
Note that while this method returns an array of Constructor<T> objects (that is an array of constructors from
this class), the return type of this method is Constructor<?>[] and not Constructor<T>[] as
might be expected. This less informative return type is
necessary since after being returned from this method, the
array could be modified to hold Constructor objects for
different classes, which would violate the type guarantees of
Constructor<T>[].
Constructor objects representing the
public constructors of this classSecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.PUBLIC) denies
access to the constructors within this class
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
Field object that reflects the specified public
member field of the class or interface represented by this
Class object. The name parameter is a
String specifying the simple name of the desired field.
The field to be reflected is determined by the algorithm that follows. Let C be the class represented by this object:
NoSuchFieldException
is thrown.See The Java Language Specification, sections 8.2 and 8.3.
name the field nameField object of this class specified by
nameNoSuchFieldException if a field with the specified name is
not found.NullPointerException if name is nullSecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.PUBLIC) denies
access to the field
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
Method object that reflects the specified public
member method of the class or interface represented by this
Class object. The name parameter is a
String specifying the simple name of the desired method. The
parameterTypes parameter is an array of Class
objects that identify the method's formal parameter types, in declared
order. If parameterTypes is null, it is
treated as if it were an empty array.
If the name is "<init>;"or "<clinit>" a
NoSuchMethodException is raised. Otherwise, the method to
be reflected is determined by the algorithm that follows. Let C be the
class represented by this object:
Note that there may be more than one matching method in a
class because while the Java language forbids a class to
declare multiple methods with the same signature but different
return types, the Java virtual machine does not. This
increased flexibility in the virtual machine can be used to
implement various language features. For example, covariant
returns can be implemented with java.lang.reflect.Method.isBridge(); the bridge
method and the method being overridden would have the same
signature but different return types.
See The Java Language Specification, sections 8.2 and 8.4.
name the name of the methodparameterTypes the list of parametersMethod object that matches the specified
name and parameterTypesNoSuchMethodException if a matching method is not found
or if the name is "<init>"or "<clinit>".NullPointerException if name is nullSecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.PUBLIC) denies
access to the method
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
Constructor object that reflects the specified
public constructor of the class represented by this Class
object. The parameterTypes parameter is an array of
Class objects that identify the constructor's formal
parameter types, in declared order.
If this Class object represents an inner class
declared in a non-static context, the formal parameter types
include the explicit enclosing instance as the first parameter.
The constructor to reflect is the public constructor of the class
represented by this Class object whose formal parameter
types match those specified by parameterTypes.
parameterTypes the parameter arrayConstructor object of the public constructor that
matches the specified parameterTypesNoSuchMethodException if a matching method is not found.SecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.PUBLIC) denies
access to the constructor
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
Class objects reflecting all the
classes and interfaces declared as members of the class represented by
this Class object. This includes public, protected, default
(package) access, and private classes and interfaces declared by the
class, but excludes inherited classes and interfaces. This method
returns an array of length 0 if the class declares no classes or
interfaces as members, or if this Class object represents a
primitive type, an array class, or void.
Class objects representing all the
declared members of this classSecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.DECLARED) denies
access to the declared classes within this class
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
Field objects reflecting all the fields
declared by the class or interface represented by this
Class object. This includes public, protected, default
(package) access, and private fields, but excludes inherited fields.
The elements in the array returned are not sorted and are not in any
particular order. This method returns an array of length 0 if the class
or interface declares no fields, or if this Class object
represents a primitive type, an array class, or void.
See The Java Language Specification, sections 8.2 and 8.3.
Field objects representing all the
declared fields of this classSecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.DECLARED) denies
access to the declared fields within this class
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
Method objects reflecting all the
methods declared by the class or interface represented by this
Class object. This includes public, protected, default
(package) access, and private methods, but excludes inherited methods.
The elements in the array returned are not sorted and are not in any
particular order. This method returns an array of length 0 if the class
or interface declares no methods, or if this Class object
represents a primitive type, an array class, or void. The class
initialization method <clinit> is not included in the
returned array. If the class declares multiple public member methods
with the same parameter types, they are all included in the returned
array.
See The Java Language Specification, section 8.2.
Method objects representing all the
declared methods of this classSecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.DECLARED) denies
access to the declared methods within this class
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
Constructor objects reflecting all the
constructors declared by the class represented by this
Class object. These are public, protected, default
(package) access, and private constructors. The elements in the array
returned are not sorted and are not in any particular order. If the
class has a default constructor, it is included in the returned array.
This method returns an array of length 0 if this Class
object represents an interface, a primitive type, an array class, or
void.
See The Java Language Specification, section 8.2.
Constructor objects representing all the
declared constructors of this classSecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.DECLARED) denies
access to the declared constructors within this class
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
Field object that reflects the specified declared
field of the class or interface represented by this Class
object. The name parameter is a String that
specifies the simple name of the desired field. Note that this method
will not reflect the length field of an array class.
name the name of the fieldField object for the specified field in this
classNoSuchFieldException if a field with the specified name is
not found.NullPointerException if name is nullSecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.DECLARED) denies
access to the declared field
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
Method object that reflects the specified
declared method of the class or interface represented by this
Class object. The name parameter is a
String that specifies the simple name of the desired
method, and the parameterTypes parameter is an array of
Class objects that identify the method's formal parameter
types, in declared order. If more than one method with the same
parameter types is declared in a class, and one of these methods has a
return type that is more specific than any of the others, that method is
returned; otherwise one of the methods is chosen arbitrarily. If the
name is "<init>"or "<clinit>" a NoSuchMethodException
is raised.
name the name of the methodparameterTypes the parameter arrayMethod object for the method of this class
matching the specified name and parametersNoSuchMethodException if a matching method is not found.NullPointerException if name is nullSecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.DECLARED) denies
access to the declared method
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
Constructor object that reflects the specified
constructor of the class or interface represented by this
Class object. The parameterTypes parameter is
an array of Class objects that identify the constructor's
formal parameter types, in declared order.
If this Class object represents an inner class
declared in a non-static context, the formal parameter types
include the explicit enclosing instance as the first parameter.
parameterTypes the parameter arrayConstructor object for the constructor with the
specified parameter listNoSuchMethodException if a matching method is not found.SecurityException
If a security manager, s, is present and any of the
following conditions is met:
s.checkMemberAccess(this, Member.DECLARED) denies
access to the declared constructor
s.checkPackageAccess() denies access to the package
of this class
ClassLoader.getSystemResourceAsStream(java.lang.String)Before delegation, an absolute resource name is constructed from the given resource name using this algorithm:
name begins with a '/'
('\u002f'), then the absolute name of the resource is the
portion of the name following the '/'.
modified_package_name/name
Where the modified_package_name is the package name of this
object with '/' substituted for '.'
('\u002e').
name name of the desired resourcejava.io.InputStreamnull if
no resource with this name is foundNullPointerException If name is nullClassLoader.getSystemResource(java.lang.String)Before delegation, an absolute resource name is constructed from the given resource name using this algorithm:
name begins with a '/'
('\u002f'), then the absolute name of the resource is the
portion of the name following the '/'.
modified_package_name/name
Where the modified_package_name is the package name of this
object with '/' substituted for '.'
('\u002e').
name name of the desired resourcejava.net.URLnull if no
resource with this name is foundProtectionDomain of this class. If there is a
security manager installed, this method first calls the security
manager's checkPermission method with a
RuntimePermission("getProtectionDomain") permission to
ensure it's ok to get the
ProtectionDomain.
SecurityException
if a security manager exists and its
checkPermission method doesn't allow
getting the ProtectionDomain.java.security.ProtectionDomainSecurityManager.checkPermission(java.security.Permission)RuntimePermission
TC_CLASS ClassDescriptor
A ClassDescriptor is a special cased serialization of
a java.io.ObjectStreamClass instance.
A new handle is generated for the initial time the class descriptor
is written into the stream. Future references to the class descriptor
are written as references to the initial class descriptor instance.
java.io.ObjectStreamClassFew programmers will have any need for this method; it is provided for the benefit of the JRE itself. (It allows a class to determine at the time that it is initialized whether assertions should be enabled.) Note that this method is not guaranteed to return the actual assertion status that was (or will be) associated with the specified class when it was (or will be) initialized.
ClassLoader.setClassAssertionStatus(java.lang.String,boolean)ClassLoader.setPackageAssertionStatus(java.lang.String,boolean)ClassLoader.setDefaultAssertionStatus(boolean)Class object.
obj the object to be castClassCastException if the object is not
null and is not assignable to the type T.Class object to represent a subclass of the class
represented by the specified class object. Checks that that the cast
is valid, and throws a ClassCastException if it is not. If
this method succeeds, it always returns a reference to this class object.
This method is useful when a client needs to "narrow" the type of
a Class object to pass it to an API that restricts the
Class objects that it is willing to accept. A cast would
generate a compile-time warning, as the correctness of the cast
could not be checked at runtime (because generic types are implemented
by erasure).
Class object, cast to represent a subclass of
the specified class object.ClassCastException if this Class object does not
represent a subclass of the specified class (here "subclass" includes
the class itself).