I found a scenario that uses com.sun.jndi.toolkit.UrlUtil class in a source cods. I can find this class in rt.jar in Standard Java Distribution. But I cannot find any API documentation for classes in this package. Why these classes are hidden? Are there any drawbacks in using those classes in my code?
+6
A:
Because com.sun.* is not an API. It's Sun's implementation. You shouldn't rely on these classes, because they are likely to change.
Bozho
2009-12-09 11:05:31
+1 - the public interface to them, that is the methods with a well-defined locked-down implementation that you can call with confidence **is** documented; it's the empty set. Your code should not even *know* (explicitly) about the existence of these classes, and casting references to them should be setting off warning bells rather than requests for documentation. ;-)
Andrzej Doyle
2009-12-09 12:03:50