When you define a class, say "Foo", instances of Foo are Foo objects. "Foo", itself, is an instance of a class named "Class" which is a direct descendent of th

When you define a class, say "Foo", instances of Foo are Foo objects. "Foo", itself, is an instance of a class named "Class" which is a direct descendent of the class "Object". In Java's type system, classes are 'first class objects': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-class_object http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-class_object