Java instanceof with class name

Question

I am just curious to ask this, maybe it is quite meaningless.

When we are using instanceof in java, like:

if (a instanceof Parent){ //\"Parent\" here is          


        

Answer 1

The static Parent.class member is actually an object. You could assign it to a variable of type Object or type Class if you wanted to:

Object o = Parent.class;
Class c = Parent.class;

Parent on the other hand isn't an object or a variable: it is a Type Name, as per the Java spec.

If you could do this...

a instanceof Parent.class

Since Parent.class is an object then you could feasibly could also do this:

Cat myCat = new DomesticLonghair();
a instanceof myCat;

... which is just silly.