In Java, what does a reference to Class.class do?
<p>I'm building a small Android application, but this is more of a Java question than an android question. Looking through the tutorials there are lines that look like:</p>

<pre><code>startService(new Intent(this, MyService.class));
</code></pre>

<p>what exactly does the "MyService.class" field represent?  Is that just a reference to the class for a template?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>
