1. A method for classpath environmental variable optimization in a platform independent runtime environment, the method comprising the steps of: a computer identifying a required class in an import statement in source code for a software program, wherein the required class is required by the software program; the computer identifying an element containing the required class in the classpath environment variable to form an identified element, wherein the identified element includes at least one of a directory element and an archive file element; and the computer generating a new classpath environment variable using the identified element; wherein if the identified element includes the directory element, the step of the computer identifying the element containing the required class in the classpath environment variable comprises: the computer determining if a directory listed in the classpath environment variable contains the required class and if so, the computer including a name of the directory in the new classpath environment variable, or if not, the computer removing the name of the directory from the classpath environment variable; and wherein if the identified element includes the archive file element, the step of the computer identifying the element containing the required class in the classpath environment variable comprises: the computer determining if an archive file listed in the classpath environment variable contains the required class and if so, the computer including a name of the archive file in the new classpath environment variable, or if not, the computer removing the name of the archive file from the classpath environment variable.