Java class file: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:32, 22 May 2005

Revision as of 13:42, 6 November 2005

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[[Image:Apple Java file.png|right|Java class icon from Mac OS X.]]

The [[Java programming language|Java]] source files (.java files) get compiled into .class files. Since Java is a [[platform-independent]] language, it compiles its sources into [[bytecode]], which it stores in a .class file. If the source code has more than one class, each class is compiled into a separate .class file. These .class files can be loaded by any [[Java Virtual Machine]].

Since JVMs are available for many [[platform (computing)|platform]]s, the .class file compiled in one platform will execute in a JVM of another platform. This makes Java platform-independent.

Class files are identified by the following 4 [[byte]] [[header (hexinformation technology)|header]] ([[hexadecimal]]): <code>CA FE BA BE</code>.

{{compu-soft-stub}}

[[Category:Java platform]]