how class.forname() works?

Hi there:
I'm not clear at all, about the method Class.forName(), I'm trying to use it on my program, but I'm getting the error:
java.io.Exception: Bad Path: <describing PATH>

the code is:
{
try
{
Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");
}
catch(java.lang.ClassNotFoundException e)
{
System.err.print("ClassNotFoundException: " + e.getMessage());
System.exit(1);
}

so, I'm not sure about the meaning of the argument to call this method.
Can anybody help?
Thanx

actually you are using it correctly.
the problem is not related to the use of the Class.forName() . your code works fine in my computer.
perhaps it is a classpath related issue?
or maybe you dont have Jdbc classes?
check to see if u have the java.sql package?