Patent ID: 6985909

Claim:
A computer implemented method, comprising: receiving a request for a class definition in a first class loader in an arrangement of class loaders, the first class loader being a token driven class loader, each class loader having a naming token, and each token driven class loader having one or more associated delegation tokens; determining whether the first class loader has a parent class loader and, if so, whether the parent class loader is a token driven class loader, and if the first class loader has a parent class loader, requesting the class definition from the parent class loader, where if the parent class loader is a token driven class loader, requesting the class definition comprises using the delegation tokens to delegate the class definition request to the parent class loader; if the class definition is not obtained from a parent class loader, attempting to obtain the class definition from the resources of the first class loader; and if the class definition is not obtained from a parent class loader or from the resources of the first class loader, using the delegation tokens of the first class loader to find a matching child class loader and requesting the class definition from the matching child class loader.