java class types - what do they mean?

Question

What is the java class type used for? I am confused about what it means and how it is different than declaring an object type:

Class className;

Thanks

Answer 1

There are several uses for a Class object. For example, say I want to create an instance of a class based on some class name stored in a config file.

String className = config.myClass;
Class clazz = Class.forName(className);
Object myClassInstance = clazz.newInstance();