static Class<?> _getClass(String name) {
  try {
    return Class.forName(name);
  } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
    return null; // could optimize this
  }
}

static Class _getClass(O o) {
  ret o == null ? null
    : o instanceof Class ? (Class) o : o.getClass();
}

static Class _getClass(O realm, S name) ctex {
  ret getClass(realm).getClassLoader().loadClass(classNameToVM(name));
}