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2.5 Methods
The information for each method immediately follows the method_count field in the class file. Each method is described by a variable length method_info structure. The structure has the following format:
method_info {
u2 access_flags;
u2 name_index;
u2 signature_index;
u2 attributes_count;
attribute_info attributes[attribute_count];
}
access_flags
This is a set of sixteen flags used by classes, methods, and fields to describe various properties and how they many be accessed by methods in other classes. See the table "Access Flags" on page 12 which gives the various bits in this field.
The possible fields that can be set for a method are ACC_PUBLIC, ACC_PRIVATE, ACC_PROTECTED, ACC_STATIC, ACC_FINAL, ACC_SYNCHRONIZED, ACC_NATIVE, and ACC_ABSTRACT.
At most one of ACC_PUBLIC, ACC_PROTECTED, and ACC_PRIVATE can be set for any method.
name_index
constant_pool[name_index] is a CONSTANT_Utf8 string giving the name of the method.
signature_index
constant_pool[signature_index]is a CONSTANT_Utf8 string giving the signature of the field. See the section "Signatures" for more information on signatures.
attributes_count
This value indicates the number of additional attributes about this field.
attributes
A field can have any number of optional attributes associated with it. Each attribute has a name, and other additional information. Currently, the only field attributes recognized are the "Code" and "Exceptions" attributes, which describe the bytecodes that are executed to perform this method, and the Java Exceptions which are declared to result from the execution of the method, respectively.
Any other attributes are skipped.
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