RFR: 8309819: Clarify API note in Class::getName and MethodType::toMethodDescriptorString [v5]

[Alan Bateman]

On Thu, 15 Jun 2023 02:38:08 GMT, Chen Liang <liach at openjdk.org> wrote:

>> The API specification for descriptorString not being a strict inverse of Class::forName and MethodType::fromDescriptorString are not entirely correct.
>> 
>> 1. Class::descriptorString was never an inverse of Class::forName, which takes a binary name instead. Class::getName was a partial inverse instead.
>> 2. MethodType::toMethodDescriptorString ends with a meaningless sentence: "fromMethodDescriptorString, because the latter requires a suitable class loader argument.", and the "Note:" section can be replaced with an `@apiNote`.
>> 3. Both of these didn't mention hidden classes (or other non-nominally-describable classes) as a reason that prevents the inversion operation, in addition to distinct classloaders.
>> 
>> A few user-defined anchor links are replaced with updated javadoc link tag format as well. The explicit html-style links in `@see` tags are unchanged in order to retain the non-code output.
>> 
>> The rendered specifications:
>> https://cr.openjdk.org/~liach/8309819/04/java.base/java/lang/Class.html
>> https://cr.openjdk.org/~liach/8309819/04/java.base/java/lang/invoke/MethodType.html
>
> Chen Liang has updated the pull request incrementally with one additional commit since the last revision:
> 
>   Update the note for getName

src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/Class.java line 933:

> 931:      * classes whose element type is a hidden class or interface cannot be
> 932:      * discovered by {@code forName}.
> 933:      *

This is an API note in Class::getName. It seems excessive to be saying that primitive types, hidden classes, ... can't be discovered with Class.forName. It might be better to just drop the second half of this note.

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PR Review Comment: https://git.openjdk.org/jdk/pull/14411#discussion_r1230770627