Is there a difference from the class field and getClass() ?

Question

To get the url of an image, I have developed the code below which works fine. In fact I, used a few examples that I got from this forum without understanding what I'm doing.
public java.net.URL getURL(String name)
    String n = name.trim();
       if (n == null || n.equals(""))  return null;
    java.net.URL url=null;
    try
         return TestImage.class.getResource("/" + n);
   catch (Exception ex)
          System.out.println(ex.toString());
          return null;
}However, now to really understand what all this means, I'd like to know what is the class field. For example when I'm writting :
      TestImage.class.getResource("/" + n);what "class" refers to ? Is it the same as
      TestImage.getClass().getResource("/" + n);I'm wondering what is the class field because by looking for the javadoc for Class, or Object, I haven't found any such field name. Where is it documented ? Instead could I have written :
       Class.getResource("/" + n);

Answer 1

This expression is true :
String.class.equals("A string".getClass())So basically it is the same, except that getClass() is not static.
Hope this helps,
--Marc (http://jnative.sf.net)