I have a problem where i need to walk through an object graph and pick out a particular property value. My original solution caches a linked list of property names that need to be applied in order to get from point A to point B in the object graph. I then use apache commons PropertyUtils to iterate through the linked list calling getProperty(Object bean, String name) until i have reached point B.

My question is around how this will perform compared to perhaps cahing the Method objects for each step. What is propertyUtils doing under the bonnet? Is it doing a lot of reflection / heavy lifting?