I had a hard time writing the title to this question, but here is my situation and what I am asking:
I guess the root of my question is: Are .class files needed after the application is loaded and running? Is the classes just stored in memory, and I don't need the files on the file system anymore? Or does it still access/read things on the filesystem?
Any insight or better understanding of what java needs for a running application is appreciated.
Classes are loaded on demand. The classloader won't attempt to load a class until that class has been referenced. Therefore, removing class files from the classpath in the middle of a run would almost certainly cause failures.