Question

In Java, is it safe to assume that getClass() called inside a constructor of a class used as a base class will provide information about the derived class, rather than the class of the base class?

It seems to work, but I guess that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe.
For example, if I have the following two classes:

public class Parent {
    public Parent() {
        System.out.println(getClass().getName());
    }
}

And:

public class Derived extends Parent {
    public Derived() {
        super();
    }

    public static void main(String... args) {
        new Derived();
    }
}

When I run the main() method in the Derived class it prints: Derived (which is what I was hoping). But can I rely on that behavior across JVMs?

Answer 1

getClass is one of Object‘s methods and returns the runtime class of this:

Returns the runtime class of this Object. The returned Class object is the object that is locked by static synchronized methods of the represented class.

So yes, it will always return Derived.