Question

How does Calendar.getInstance() method get you the current year? It doesn’t read it from your computer obviously neither from the internet. This may sound like a newbie question but how does this method work?

Answer 1

Actually, it does read it from your computer. Internally, it calls GregorianCalendar‘s constructor, which calls System.currentTimeMillis(), which is a native method.

Depending on your locale, it might also create a JapaneseImperialCalendar or a BuddhistCalendar, which also both call System.currentTimeMillis().