ClassLoader类加载器

package java.lang;
public abstract class ClassLoader {}

• A class loader is an object that is responsible for loading classes. The
• class ClassLoader is an abstract class.

一个类加载器是什么？顾名思义，是一个用来加载类的对象。ClassLoader 是一个抽象类。

• Given the binary name of a class, a class loader should attempt to
• locate or generate data that constitutes a definition for the class.

给一个二进制的类名，类加载器可以根据这个类名获取到对应类的组成信息。意思就是，经过类加载器的一番劳作，我们只需要给出一个类名，就能得到类的组成信息。

• A typical strategy is to transform the name into a file name and then read a
• “class file” of that name from a file system.

一个比较典型的策略就是，将类名与类文件名做个映射，这样给出一个类名，类加载器直接去读取对应文件名的类文件即可。

• Every Class object contains a Class#getClassLoader() reference to the ClassLoader that defined it.

每一个Class类，都含有一个getClassLoader() 方法，可以获取到加载这个类的类加载器。

是的没错，确实是有一个名叫Class的类。

Class的构造函数是私有的，只有Java虚拟机可以生成Class类。

• Class objects for array classes are not created by class

• loaders, but are created automatically as required by the Java runtime.

数组类里的多个类对象，并不是由多个类加载器创造的，而是在java运行环境自动创造的。

• The class loader for an array class, as returned by {@link

• Class#getClassLoader()} is the same as the class loader for its element

• type;

  这个数组类的类加载器，跟它里面的对象的类加载器相同。

• if the element type is a primitive type, then the array class has no

• class loader.

如果里面的对象类是一个原始类，那么这个数组类将没有类加载器。

• Applications implement subclasses of ClassLoader in order to
• extend the manner in which the Java virtual machine dynamically loads
• classes.

ClassLoader类其实是一个抽象类，我们会写一些ClassLoader的实现类是为了扩展虚拟机动态加载的机制，为其添加一些其他功能。

• Class loaders may typically be used by security managers to indicate
• security domains.

类加载器常常被用作安全域管理方面的作用。

• The ClassLoader class uses a delegation model to search for
• classes and resources.

ClassLoader类使用代理模式去查找类与资源。

• Each instance of ClassLoader has an associated parent class loader.

每一个ClassLoader有一个关联的父类加载器。

• When requested to find a class or resource, a ClassLoader instance will delegate the search for the class or resource to its parent class loader before attempting to find the class or resource itself.

当要查找一个类或者一个资源，类加载器会让父类加载器先去查找加载，而不是自己先去加载。这就是所谓的双亲委派机制。

• The virtual machine’s built-in class loader, called the “bootstrap class loader”, does not itself have a parent but may serve as the parent of a ClassLoader instance.

虚拟机内置的类加载器叫做"bootstrap class loader"，它没有父加载器，是初始的类加载器，可以作为别的类加载器的父亲。

• Class loaders that support concurrent loading of classes are known as
• parallel capable class loaders and are required to register
• themselves at their class initialization time by invoking the
• ClassLoaderClassLoader.registerAsParallelCapable
• method. Note that the ClassLoader class is registered as parallel
• capable by default. However, its subclasses still need to register themselves
• if they are parallel capable.
  

类加载器如果想要获得并发加载类的能力，那么就需要在初始化的时候，调用自身的registerAsParallelCapable方法，将自己注册为并发型类加载器。需要注意的是，如果一个类加载器已经是被注册成拥有并发能力的，但是它的子类并不继承这一属性，子类还是需要自身调用一次进行注册。

• In environments in which the delegation model is not strictly
• hierarchical, class loaders need to be parallel capable, otherwise class
• loading can lead to deadlocks because the loader lock is held for the
• duration of the class loading process (see
• loadClassmethods).

如果代理模式没有被很好的分级，类加载器就必须被注册成并发型的，否则会导致死锁。因为类加载器这个对象在加载类的过程中，被锁住了。

• Normally, the Java virtual machine loads classes from the local file
• system in a platform-dependent manner. For example, on UNIX systems, the
• virtual machine loads classes from the directory defined by the
• CLASSPATH environment variable.

一般来说，虚拟机加载加载本地文件会用平台自身的方式。比如，在UNIX系统，虚拟机会从CLASSPATH这个变量定义的文件夹下，加载文件。

• However, some classes may not originate from a file; they may originate
• from other sources, such as the network, or they could be constructed by an
• application.

然而，类可能并不是都从一个本地文件得到的，它们可能从别的资源得到的，比如从网络，比如是被应用实时构造出来的。

• The method defineClass(String, byte[], int, int) converts an array of bytes into an instance of class Class. Instances of this newly defined class can be created using Class.newInstance.

defineClass这个方法呢，可以将字符串转换成Class类，用这个类，可以生成Class实例。

• The methods and constructors of objects created by a class loader may
• reference other classes. To determine the class(es) referred to, the Java
• virtual machine invokes the {@link #loadClass loadClass} method of
• the class loader that originally created the class.

类构造器创造的类，可能会引用其他的类。为了确认引用的类，虚拟机调用最初始的类构造器的loadClass方法。

• For example, an application could create a network class loader to
• download class files from a server. Sample code might look like:
• ClassLoader loader= new NetworkClassLoader(host,port);
• Object main= loader.loadClass(“Main”, true).newInstance();

比如，一个程序需要构造一个从网络加载类的类加载器。示例代码可以如下

ClassLoader loader= new NetworkClassLoader(host,port);
Object main= loader.loadClass("Main", true).newInstance();

• The network class loader subclass must define the methods findClass and loadClassData to load a class from the network.
• Once it has downloaded the bytes that make up the class, it should use the method defineClass tocreate a class instance. A sample implementation is:

从网络上获取类的类加载器必须实现findClass和loadClassData这两个方法。
当它从网络上下载好类的字符数据，就使用defineClass方法，去创造出这个类。
例子如下：

      class NetworkClassLoader extends ClassLoader {
          String host;
          int port;
 
          public Class findClass(String name) {
              byte[] b = loadClassData(name);
              return defineClass(name, b, 0, b.length);
          }
 
          private byte[] loadClassData(String name) {
              // load the class data from the connection
             
          }
      }

• Any class name provided as a String parameter to methods in
• ClassLoader must be a binary name as defined by
• The Java™ Language Specification.

• Examples of valid class names include:

一个类名必须是一个有效的字符串参数。例子如下：

• “java.lang.String”
• “javax.swing.JSpinner$DefaultEditor”
• “java.security.KeyStore$Builder$FileBuilder$1”
• “java.net.URLClassLoader$3$1”

至此，我们大致理解了ClassLoader类是干什么了的，有什么作用：主要是进行类加载的，还可以并发加载类，以及类加载器的继承关系，双亲委派机制。