Re: Invoking ArrayList.get() impossible with reflection ?
Lothar Kimmeringer wrote:
"nothing special" in the meaning of "there are situations when
you need reflection and there is no reason to not use it in
that case":
Some reasons are:
- Serialization-mechanisms in general (e.g. XML-marshalling,
Axis creating a WebService-Request out of a POJO), etc.
- Calling methods of classes that were loaded by a different
class-loader. Even if you have the class in your own class-
path you will get a ClassCastException when you try to cast
it to that specific class. So you have to work with object
using reflection
If that isn't a "special" circumstance, nothing is.
- Methods-calls configured by a config-file
Sometimes.
Using reflrection is comparable to using Object or Exception
as parameter/checked exceptoin rather than a more specialized
form. You lose compile-time-checks and all the things but there
are situations where you have to do exactly that.
In the sense that reflection used responsibly for certain use cases is
"nothing special", one can begrudgingly grant your point. The problem is that
those use cases are rather special, or at least specialized. The danger is
the irresponsible use of reflection for places where it is most emphatically
not correct, often in lieu of polymorphism, that most fundamental of
object-oriented type-safe idioms.
One must agree with you that there are times when reflection is an appropriate
and powerful technique. Like all the powerful techniques, it's murder in the
hands of an irresponsible or undereducated practitioner. It is not a magic
bullet cure-all to let one off the hook for good design.
--
Lew