Phases of Java Class loading

Hi All,

This post is regarding the phases of class loading in any java based application.  I came across a very good write up material, and thought of sharing with all my blog users.

The loading of a class can essentially be broken down into three phases:
1. Loading
2. Linking
3. Initializing.

Most, if not all, problems relating to class loading can be tracked down to a problem occurring in one of these phases. Therefore, a thorough understanding of each phase helps in the diagnosing of class loading problems. The phases are illustrated in Figure 2

class loading

The loading phase consists of locating the required class file (by searching though the respective classpaths) and loading in the bytecode. Within the JVM, the loading process gives a very basic memory structure to the class object. Methods, fields, and other referenced classes are not dealt with at this stage. As a result, the class is not usable.

Linking is the most complicated of the three phases. It can be broken down into three main stages:

• Bytecode verification. The class loader does a number of checks on the bytecodes of the class to ensure that it is well-formed and well-behaved.
• Class preparation. This stage prepares the necessary data structures that represent fields, methods, and implemented interfaces that are defined within each class.
• Resolving. In this stage, the class loader loads all the other classes referenced by a particular class. The classes can be referenced in a number of ways:
• Superclasses
• Interfaces
• Fields
• Method signatures
• Local variables used in methods

During the initializing phase, any static initializers contained within a class are executed. At the end of this phase, static fields are initialized to their default values.

At the end of these three phases, a class is fully loaded and is ready for use.

Note that class loading can be performed in a lazy manner and therefore some parts of the class loading process may be done on first use of the class rather than at load time.

Hope this helps.

–
Thanks
R Vashi

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