/* * Copyright (c) 1998, 2006, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. * ORACLE PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ /** * Provides classes that are fundamental to the design of the Java * programming language. The most important classes are {@code * Object}, which is the root of the class hierarchy, and {@code * Class}, instances of which represent classes at run time. * * <p>Frequently it is necessary to represent a value of primitive * type as if it were an object. The wrapper classes {@code Boolean}, * {@code Character}, {@code Integer}, {@code Long}, {@code Float}, * and {@code Double} serve this purpose. An object of type {@code * Double}, for example, contains a field whose type is double, * representing that value in such a way that a reference to it can be * stored in a variable of reference type. These classes also provide * a number of methods for converting among primitive values, as well * as supporting such standard methods as equals and hashCode. The * {@code Void} class is a non-instantiable class that holds a * reference to a {@code Class} object representing the type void. * * <p>The class {@code Math} provides commonly used mathematical * functions such as sine, cosine, and square root. The classes {@code * String}, {@code StringBuffer}, and {@code StringBuilder} similarly * provide commonly used operations on character strings. * * <p>Classes {@code ClassLoader}, {@code Process}, {@code * ProcessBuilder}, {@code Runtime}, {@code SecurityManager}, and * {@code System} provide "system operations" that manage the dynamic * loading of classes, creation of external processes, host * environment inquiries such as the time of day, and enforcement of * security policies. * * <p>Class {@code Throwable} encompasses objects that may be thrown * by the {@code throw} statement. Subclasses of {@code Throwable} * represent errors and exceptions. * * <a name="charenc"></a> * <h3>Character Encodings</h3> * * The specification of the {@link java.nio.charset.Charset * java.nio.charset.Charset} class describes the naming conventions * for character encodings as well as the set of standard encodings * that must be supported by every implementation of the Java * platform. * * @since JDK1.0 */ package java.lang;