static initializer

[rob harvey]

Hi - if a java.lang.error is thrown from a static initializer will this mean the class is unusable thereafter as it hasn't loaded properly? I ask this as I am loading a dll in my initializer - when it is not on the path an unsatisfiedlinkerror is thrown. When I then go to call the native method it hangs without ever returning. When I catch the error in the static block however the native method call correctly throws its own unsatisfiedlinkerror and doesn't hang?

[rob harvey]

I've answered this myself. If the class fails to initialise it is unusable.