private static Class<?> appBaseClass(){
  try {
    return Class.forName("de.lmu.ifi.dbs.elki.application.AbstractApplication");
  }
 catch (  ClassNotFoundException e) {
    return null;
  }
}

private static Class < ? > appBaseClass ( ) { try { return Class . forName ( "de.lmu.ifi.dbs.elki.application.AbstractApplication" ) ; } catch ( ClassNotFoundException e ) { return null ; } }
get the base application class ( to be ignored ) .
