code: public static URL urlFromCurrentDir()
          throws IOException /* MalformedURLException or such */
      {
          /* This seems to work; independent of whether there happens to
           * be such/file dir or not.
           */
          File parent = new File("a").getAbsoluteFile().getParentFile();
          return toURL(parent);
      }
docs: Method that tries to create and return URL that denotes current
  working directory. Usually used to create a context, when one is
  not explicitly passed.