Friday, February 14, 2003

Correction: class loaders rock, but Ant, JUnit, and Tomcat suck Scott Stirling pointed out that my "class loading sucks" example ignores the contract and constraints of the Java 2 ClassLoader extension API. I know how class loaders are supposed to work. For the last two years I have been making pretty much the same argument Scott makes. However, if Scott (and old-me) are right, then why do we need abominations like this, and why do so many projects find non-delegating loaders necessary? I'll pull together my list of ideas but I am interested in hearing from others as well. P.S. I love Ant, JUnit, and Tomcat. 10:12:48 PM    comment []

I admit it: class loading sucks All right, Ted. You win. Class loading needs an overhaul. After Conor pointed out the potential for LinkageErrors in this situation, I went and coded up a clean example of the problem. Yuck. Disclaimer: Most of the time I don't think class loaders suck. Just don't want to let Andy monopolize the word too much. 2:12:50 AM    comment []