Returns the lock object for class loading operations. For backward compatibility, the default implementation of this method behaves as follows. If this ClassLoader object is registered as parallel capable, the method returns a dedicated object associated with the specified class name. Otherwise, the method returns this ClassLoader object.

Parameters:

className The name of the to-be-loaded class

Returns: the lock for class loading operations

Exceptions:

NullPointerException If registered as parallel capable and className is null