Class.forName与ClassLoader.loadClass的区别

       Class.forName和ClassLoader.loadClass都可以加载一个类的信息，不同的是Class.forName会在加载类的信息时外加一个初始化的过程，会执行静态代码块和给静态变量赋初始值。

       看一下Class.forName的源码

        

/**
     * Returns the {@code Class} object associated with the class or
     * interface with the given string name.  Invoking this method is
     * equivalent to:
     *
     * <blockquote>
     *  {@code Class.forName(className, true, currentLoader)}
     * </blockquote>
     *
     * where {@code currentLoader} denotes the defining class loader of
     * the current class.
     *
     * <p> For example, the following code fragment returns the
     * runtime {@code Class} descriptor for the class named
     * {@code java.lang.Thread}:
     *
     * <blockquote>
     *   {@code Class t = Class.forName("java.lang.Thread")}
     * </blockquote>
     * <p>
     * A call to {@code forName("X")} causes the class named
     * {@code X} to be initialized.
     *
     * @param      className   the fully qualified name of the desired class.
     * @return     the {@code Class} object for the class with the
     *             specified name.
     * @exception LinkageError if the linkage fails
     * @exception ExceptionInInitializerError if the initialization provoked
     *            by this method fails
     * @exception ClassNotFoundException if the class cannot be located
     */
    @CallerSensitive
    public static Class<?> forName(String className)
                throws ClassNotFoundException {
        Class<?> caller = Reflection.getCallerClass();
        return forName0(className, true, ClassLoader.getClassLoader(caller), caller);
    }

   其中第二个参数设置为true就表示需要初始化。

  这个在我们使用jdbc注册driver时，就是通过静态代码块来注册的，所以我们都是使用的Class.forName来注册driver

  

public class Driver extends NonRegisteringDriver implements java.sql.Driver {
    public Driver() throws SQLException {
    }

    static {
        try {
            DriverManager.registerDriver(new Driver());
        } catch (SQLException var1) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Can't register driver!");
        }
    }
}