[0x0]

Another oddity to think about in java source code: In regular Java, all objects extend java.lang.Object, including java.lang.Class. So how do you bootstrap building java.lang.Object from source?

[pjmlp]

You don't.

This is part of the bootstraping process of a programming language.

Usually such special types are built manually in the compiler data structures, or make use of special primitives, like native methods on Java's case.

[seanmcdirmid]

java.lang.Object is just part of the VM. Same thing with native methods.

[0x0]

While many of the methods in java.lang.Object have a native implementation, there are still other methods that do sport a pure java implementation: http://hg.openjdk.java.net/jdk7/jdk7/jdk/file/tip/src/share/...

[seanmcdirmid]

Sure, but...if you look at the JVMS, there are a lot of special cases concerning java.lang.Object to help with bootstrapping.