Reflection: runtime class information

If you don't know the precise type of an object, RTTI will tell you. However there is a limitation: the type must be know at compile time in order for you to detect it using RTTI and to do something useful with the information. Put another way, the compiler must know about all the classers you're working with.

The class Class supports the concept of reflection, along with the java.lang.reflect library which contain the classs Field,Method,Constructor. Objects of these types  are created by the JVM at run time to represent the corresponding member in the unknown class. 

It's important to realize that  there's nothing magic about flection. When you using reflection to interect with an object of  an unknown type, the JVM will simply look at the object and see that it belongs to a particular class. Before anyting can be done with it, the Class object must be loaded. Thus, the .class file for that particular type must still be available in the JVM, either on the local machine or accross the network. So the true different between relection and RTTI is that with RTTI, the compiler opens and examines the .class file at compile time. Put another way, you can call all the methods of an object in the "normal way". With reflection, the .class file is unavailable at compile time; It's opened and examined by the runtime environment.