Managing Component Dependencies Using ClassLoaders

ONJava.com: Managing Component Dependencies Using ClassLoaders: Java's class loading mechanism is incredibly powerful. It allows you to leverage external third-party components without the need for header files or static linking. You simply drop the JAR files for the components into a directory and arrange for them to be added to your classpath. Run-time references are all resolved dynamically. But what happens when these third-party components have their own dependencies? Generally, it is left up to each developer to determine the full set of required components, acquire the correct version of each, and ensure that they are all added to the classpath properly.

But it doesn't have to be like this; Java's class loading mechanism allows for more elegant solutions to this problem.