Without trying to be too robust in this explanation...
You may have noticed that in
Java, we've sort of two categories of types, also known as data types: there are the 8 primitive data types, and then there's that whole other category of object types.
Concerning the primitive data types, as mentioned there are 8 of them, and you likely won't be seeing any more. The definition of these types are very much part of the Java programming language (and runtime environment). So, you can't create a new one, since you can't change the language (and runtime environment).
Then we have hundreds of object data types that folks are using - things like
String, java.awt.Graphics, java.util.LinkedList, and java.text.DecimalFormat. Each of these object data types are defined by a class. You can create a new object data type by simply creating a new class.
So, your confusion regarding the difference between class and type is probably well-based, and might mean that you're understanding the role of classes - they're primarily used to define object data types.
Got it?
[ May 06, 2004: Message edited by: Dirk Schreckmann ]