Class Loading Doubt..

[Clarence J M Tauro]

Let us consider the following code with two different classes:

class Employee{
	
	private int employeeId;
	private String employeeName;
	private int employeeSalary;
	
	// public setters and getters
	// and other code
}

public class Test {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		
		Employee e;		// only reference being created
	}
}

When I just create a reference in "main", will the Employee class be LOADED?

[Paul Clapham]

When you create a reference to an Employee object, yes, the Employee class will be loaded. But the code you posted does not create a reference. It simply declares a variable of Employee type, and that doesn't cause the Employee class to be loaded.

Here's some code which creates a reference:

Employee e = new Employee();     // actual reference being created  

[Clarence J M Tauro]

Thanks Paul;

Now, which means when I just do

 Employee e;

the class does not get loaded, and static initilizer/block does not get called right. I also verified the same.

Now can I have the static block of Employee class executed without creating the instance of the class or accessing some static method or variable of Employee class? I mean to say, how do we load the class directly?

[Paul Clapham]

Class.forName("Employee");

[Clarence J M Tauro]

Thanks Paul