RFR: 8310242: Clarify the name parameter to Class::forName [v6]

[Chen Liang]

On Wed, 21 Jun 2023 22:02:16 GMT, Mandy Chung <mchung at openjdk.org> wrote:

>> This PR clarifies the spec of the 3-arg Class::forName  regarding the format of the name for an array type which is of the form: one or more of "[" + binary name of the element type + ";'.
>
> Mandy Chung has updated the pull request with a new target base due to a merge or a rebase. The incremental webrev excludes the unrelated changes brought in by the merge/rebase. The pull request contains eight additional commits since the last revision:
> 
>  - improve the specification of forName
>  - Merge branch 'master' of https://github.com/openjdk/jdk into JDK-8310242
>  - Merge branch 'master' of https://github.com/openjdk/jdk into JDK-8310242
>  - Review comment.  Add a test
>  - missing 'L' for the array class name
>  - review comment
>  - Clarify for an array class of primitive type
>  - 8310242: Clarify the name parameter to Class::forName

src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/Class.java line 438:

> 436:      * representing primitive types or void, hidden classes or interfaces,
> 437:      * or array classes whose element type is a hidden class or interface.
> 438:      * If {@code name} denotes a primitive type or void, for example {@code I},

I think `{@code int}` would be a better example here as Java programmers aren't in touch with bytecode descriptors mostly.

src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/Class.java line 459:

> 457:      * from {@code forName(}<i>N</i>{@code )} returns <i>N</i>.
> 458:      *
> 459:      * <p> A call to {@code forName("[L}<i>N</i>{@code ;")} causes the element type

This appears true for multi-dimensional arrays as well, but the name format here only applies to single-dimension arrays.

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PR Review Comment: https://git.openjdk.org/jdk/pull/14528#discussion_r1237808121
PR Review Comment: https://git.openjdk.org/jdk/pull/14528#discussion_r1237809409