On java.lang.Class.getMethods()

Hi all,

What is the reason that getMethods() method (in java.lang.Class)
return only
public methods? After all, couldn't it return all methods, and then,
upon
invocation, throw a SecurityException (or IllegalAccessException)?
What
is the rationale for this?

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P.S. After reading http://www.yoda.arachsys.com/java/newsgroups.html,
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/newsgroups.html and
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-l.../help/minifaq/, I do feel
this cross-post is justified. If there's a more authoritative source,
please point them out to me. Advocacy was chosen because this is a
point
of Sun's choice, and security -- because this is related to access of
methods.

> What is the reason that getMethods() method (in java.lang.Class)
> return only
> public methods? After all, couldn't it return all methods, and then,
> upon
> invocation, throw a SecurityException (or IllegalAccessException)?
> What
> is the rationale for this?

Seen getDeclaredMethods()?

There are two functions because:
- getMethods()  exhibits all methods that "object" of class implements, (inc
luding inherited),
- getDeclaredMethods() exhibits only methods declared in "class" (including 
private, not including
inherited)

so getDeclaredMethods() is more powerful... but in most cases less convenien
t than simple getMethods().

--
jarekr