There's a general "rule" in Java that you should not store a ref to a
partially-initialized instance in another object, because it allows
another thread to potentially access a Java Object that is not yet fully
initialized.
The use of JCasRegistry might be doing this. It stores into an
externally-observable array (observable on other threads) a ref to the
class Foo, before Foo is fully initialized. It does this using the code:
/**
* Each cover class when loaded sets an index. Used in the JCas
typeArray to go from the cover
* class or class instance to the corresponding instance of the _Type
class
*/
public final static int typeIndexID = JCasRegistry.register(TOP.class);
I don't think this is an actual issue in our case, because I think this
value is only used to obtain a ref to the class for the purpose of
getting the class "name" to use in an error message. Other opinions?
-Marshall
