```
/**
   * Get the array of partitions of this RDD, taking into account whether the
   * RDD is checkpointed or not.
   */
  final def partitions: Array[Partition] = {
    checkpointRDD.map(_.partitions).getOrElse {
      if (partitions_ == null) {
        partitions_ = getPartitions
      }
      partitions_
    }
  }
```

RDD.partitions is actually determined by subclass implementation (getPartitions)...