Mastering Java: The Ultimate 2026 All-In-One Quiz to Excel in 'Thinking in Java

Reflection allows for the inspection and manipulation of code at runtime, which can be useful in some cases. However, it comes with a performance cost as it involves additional layers of abstraction and dynamic method lookups. Therefore, option B is correct as it states that a drawback of using reflection in Java is that it is slower than direct method calls. While option A, C, and D are incorrect because they do not identify a drawback of using reflection in Java. Option A is incorrect because reflection can actually access and call both public and private methods. Option C is incorrect because reflection does have the ability to access and modify private fields, although it requires additional permissions. Finally, option D is also incorrect as reflection is still supported in modern Java versions, although there are other alternatives that may be preferred in certain situations.