java - What purpose does Class.forName() serve if you don't use the return value?

Question

I've seen this line in a sample application for using a commercial JDBC driver:

Class.forName("name.of.a.jcdb.driver")

The return value is not used.

What purpose does this line serve?

Answer 1

It performs a static loading of that class. So anything in the static { } block, will run.