A native method is declared in Java but then hooked into a local library of native code (C/C++) that does the real work. The specification that describes how this is done is known as JNI (Java Native Interface).
In short, a class with one or more native methods in it gets run through a code generator, which exports a C struct. Using that struct, the programmer hooks in a shared object library that performs whichever function is declared. Java code that wants to make use of the native method then uses a static initializer to load that library. The native method is thus a proxy for a local library call.
If you have the src.jar for your current JDK, you can examine the source for Object.java to see this declaration "in action":
You're right about the native keyword not showing up in the documentation. Check out
this link. It explains that the native keyword isn't incorporated into javadoc as of JDK 1.2.
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Michael Ernest, co-author of:
The Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide [This message has been edited by Michael Ernest (edited September 01, 2001).]