It means that if the class mypackage.MyClass is loaded by two
different classloaders, then it is considered two different classes
by the JVM.

Arne

david wolf wrote On 11/09/06 12:54,:

   It means that if you have two ClassLoaders, L1 and L2,
and each of them loads a class named com.dot.SomeClass,
there are two different classes named com.dot.SomeClass
floating around in the JVM.  Even if the two classes have
exactly the same bytecode -- even if they were loaded from
the exact same .class file -- they are different classes
because one is in L1's "domain" and the other is in L2's.

   They're using "function of" in a rather loose pseudo-
mathematical sense: If changing X produces a change in Y,
we may say that Y "is a function of" X.  The area of a
square "is a function of" the length of its sides; your
chance of winning at poker "is a function of" the other
players' skill; the attentiveness of a salesman "is a
function of" how much he thinks he can sell you.

   IMHO the quoted use is not a particularly good one.
The identity of a loaded class *is* the combination of
its fully-qualified name and the ClassLoader that loaded
it, and it would be more straightforward simply to say so
instead of to drag in this "function of" verbiage.  True,
the identity function is a function (the identity function
maps a thing to itself: X is a function of X), so what's
said isn't wrong -- it's just wordier than it needs to be.