Re: ClassLoader, ambiguity between classes

From:

"Daniel Pitts" <googlegroupie@coloraura.com>

Newsgroups:

comp.lang.java.programmer

Date:

8 Dec 2006 11:18:32 -0800

Message-ID:

<1165605512.166334.51170@f1g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>

RS wrote:

Hello

I use a customised ClassLoader which can be called during runtime to load
all .class file present in a directory and its subs. Problem : when it reads
the classes in a folder which has allready been loaded. In this case,
several classes are loaded twice and I've this strange behaviour

Class c = this.defineClass(null,buffer,0,buffer.length);
print c.hashCode() --> gives
18602441
print Class.forName(c.getName()).hashCode() --> gives 3912376

is it possible to "unload" a class ?

The thing is that I've no way to know the binary name of the class I'm
loading, so I cannot test if class has allready been loaded before... Any
idea ?

Only the JVM can decide to unload a class, there is no way to force it,
so the answer is basically, no.
However, a class definition is "namespaced" by its name AND the
classloader that loaded it. Perhaps if you tell us more about the
underlying problem you're trying to solve, we help you find a more
elegant solution.

Good luck,
Daniel.