Converting byte[] to Class without using defineClass() in ClassLoader

Question

so as to de-serialize objects that do not have their class definitions loaded yet, i am over-riding resolveClass() in ObjectInputStream .
within resolveClass() i invoke findClass() on a network-based ClassLoader i created .
within findClass() , i invoke
Class remoteClass = defineClass(className, classImage, 0, classImage.length);
and that is where i transform a byte[] into a Class , and then finally return a value for the resolveClass() method.
this seems like a lengthy process. i mean, within resolveClass() i can grab the correct byte[] over the network.
then, if i could only convert this byte[] to a Class within resolveClass() , i would never need to extended ClassLoader and over-ride findClass() .
i assume that the only way to convert a byte[] to a Class is using defineClass() which is hidden deep within ClassLoader ? there is something going on under the hood i am sure. otherwise, why not a method to directly convert byte[] to a Class ? the byte[] representation of a Class always starts with hex CAFEBABE, and then i'm sure there is a standard way to structure the byte[] .
my core issue is:
i am sending objects over an ObjectInputStream created from a Socket .
at the minimum, i can see that resolveClass() within ObjectInputStream must be invoked at least once .
but then after that, since the relevant classes for de-serialization have been gotten over the network, i don't want to cascade all the way down to where i must invoke:
Class remoteClass = defineClass(className, classImage, 0, classImage.length);
again. so, right now, within resolveClass() i am using a Map<String, Class> to create the following class cache:
cache.put(objectStreamClass.getName(), Class);
once loaded, a class should stay loaded (even if its loaded in the run-time), i think? but this is not working. each de-serialization cascades down to defineClass() .
so, i want to short-circuit the need to get the class within the resolveClass() method (ie. invoke defineClass() only once),
but using a Map<String, Class> cache looks really stupid and certainly a hack.
that is the best i can do to explain my issue. if you read this far, thanks.

Answer 1

ok. stupid question:
for me to use URLClassLoader , i am going to need to write a bare-bones HTTP server to handle the class requests, right?Wrong. You have to deploy one, but what's wrong with Apache for example? It's free, for a start.
and, i should easily be able to do this using the com.sun.net.httpserver library, right?Why would you bother when free working HTTP servers are already available?