First Edition, 2007

ISBN 978 81 89940 66 9

© All rights reserved.

Published by:

Global Media
1819, Bhagirath Palace,
Chandni Chowk, Delhi-110 006
Email: globalmedia@dkpd.com
 Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. History

3. The Java Platform

4. Java Programming Environment

5. Installation

6. Compilation

7. Execution

8. First Java Program

9. Understanding a Java Program

10. Syntax

11. Statements

12. Classes, Objects and Types

13. Packages

14. Nested Classes

15. Access Modifiers

16. Methods

17. Primitive Types

18. Java.Lang.String

19. Arrays

20. Data and Variables and Generics

21. Defining Classes

22. Creating Objects and Interfaces

23. Using Static Members

24. Types

25. Destroying Objects and Arrays

26. Collection Classes

27. Throwing and Catching Exceptions
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Overview
This portion introduces you to the Java language and the Java platform

ƒ Java Overview
ƒ The Java Platform
ƒ Java Programming Environment

Getting Started
This section is a quick start to using Java: installing Java software, compiling and running
programs, and some small sample programs to illustrate the basics of getting started with Java.

ƒ Installing Java on Your Computer

ƒ Compiling programs
ƒ Running Java Programs
ƒ Developing the first Java program
ƒ Understanding a Java Program

Language Fundamentals
This section introduces the fundamental elements of the Java programming language.

ƒ Syntax
Keywords
ƒ Statements
ƒ Classes and objects and types
ƒ Packages
ƒ Nested classes
Nesting classes inside another class
Nesting classes inside a method
Add additional classes to a Java source file
Anonymous classes
ƒ Access modifiers
ƒ Methods
ƒ Primitive types
ƒ Types
ƒ String
ƒ Arrays
ƒ Data and variables
ƒ Generics
Classes and Objects
ƒ Defining classes
ƒ Creating objects
ƒ Interfaces
ƒ Using static members
ƒ Destroying objects
ƒ Overloading methods and constructors

Collections
ƒ Introduction
ƒ Arrays
ƒ Collection Classes
ƒ Collection or Map
ƒ Collection
ƒ Map
ƒ Set or List or Queue
ƒ Set
ƒ List
ƒ Queue
ƒ Map Classes
ƒ Thread Safe Collections
ƒ Classes Diagram (UML)

Exceptions
ƒ Throwing and catching exceptions
Handling exceptions
Application exceptions
Runtime exceptions
NullPointerException
Main Exception classes
ƒ Checked exceptions
ƒ Unchecked exceptions
ƒ Preventing NullPointerException
1. REDIRECT Template:Java Programming:Concurrent Programming

Template:Streams

Reflection
ƒ Reflection Overview
ƒ Dynamic Class Loading
ƒ Dynamic Method Invocation
 ƒ Accessing Private Features with Reflection

Applets
ƒ Overview
ƒ User Interface
ƒ Applying styles and adding content
ƒ Font
ƒ Button
ƒ Label
ƒ TextField
ƒ Layout
ƒ Panel
ƒ Event Listeners
ƒ ActionListener
ƒ MouseListener
ƒ MouseMotionListener
ƒ Analyzing User Input
ƒ Graphics and Media
ƒ Drawing
ƒ Painting
ƒ Sound
ƒ HTML Implementation

JavaBeans
Introduction to JavaBeans

Libraries, Extensions, and Frameworks

ƒ Math and Geometry
ƒ Regular Expressions
ƒ Security
ƒ Input and Output
ƒ Logging
ƒ Database Connectivity
ƒ Zip and Other Archive
ƒ XML
ƒ Graphical User Interfaces
ƒ Open Source
ƒ Struts
ƒ Spring framework
Markup Templates for the Java Programming Book

There are some useful templates which aid in creating content for the book, especially in code
samples. The book prefix “Java” is a redirect to “Java Programming”, so we also use “Java” as a
prefix for some templates (following the templates defined for Ada):

{{Java://|comment}}
For // comments in a code block. Sample use: {{Java://|Check for a null value}}
yields // Check for a null value

{{Java:kw|keyword}}
For marking a Java keyword. This will also create a link to the keyword’s page in the
book. Sample use: {{Java:kw|for}} yields for

{{Java:int}}
Use for the int keyword. Each Java keyword has a corresponding Java: template; see
Keywords.

{{Java:string|string content}}
For marking a Java String literal. The Java:String template adds the opening and
closing double quote for you. This is purely a formating template and does not create
any links. Sample use: {{Java:string|Cafe, Babe}} yields “Cafe Babe”. Don’t
confuse with {{Java:String}} below.

{{Java:null}}
Use for the null literal.

{{Java:true}}
Use for the Boolean literal true.

{{Java:false}}
Use for the Boolean literal false.

{{Java:npe}}
Use for referring to NullPointerException.

{{Java:Object}}
Use for referring to Object (the page for java.lang.Object)

{{Java:jlObject}}
Use for referring to java.lang.Object (two links: one for java.lang and one for
java.lang.Object)

{{Java:Class}}
 Use for referring to Class (the page for java.lang.Class)

{{Java:jlClass}}
Use for referring to java.lang.Class (two links: one for java.lang and one for
java.lang.Class)

{{Java:String}}
Use for referring to String (the page for java.lang.String). Don’t confuse with
{{Java:string|string content}} above.

{{Java:jlString}}
Use for referring to java.lang.String (two links: one for java.lang and one for
java.lang.String)

{{Java:pkg|package}}
Use to link to the category for a Java package. For example, {{Java:pkg|java.util}}
links to java.util

{{Java:pkgcat|package}}
Use to put a page in the category for a Java package. For example, use
{{Java:pkgcat|java.util}} on a page to add it to the category, Category:java.util

{{Java:api|package-name|class-name}}
Use this to link to a page which describes one of the classes documented in this book.
The above {{Java:Object}} and similar templates are implemented with this template.
The first parameter is the package name; the second is the class name. Sample use:
{{Java:api|java.io|IOException}} yields IOException

{{Java:qapi|package-name|class-name}}
Use this for qualified package names which create two links: one to a category for the
Java package, and one to a page which describes the class. The above
java.lang.Object and similar templates are implemented with this template. The
first parameter is the package name; the second is the class name. Sample use:
{{Java:qapi|java.io|IOException}} yields java.io.IOException

Innovative help

ƒ Points to ponder
ƒ Common mistakes and
ƒ For your information

Please add your name here if you have contributed to Java Programming
ƒ djb
ƒ Ervinn
ƒ rappo
ƒ Malfist
ƒ deva
ƒ Arun Reginald
History
The Java programming language was created by James Gosling and other engineers at Sun
Microsystems. It was developed in 1991, as part of the Green Project, and officially announced
on May 23, 1995, at SunWorld; being released in November. Java was initially designed as a
replacement to C++ (although the feature set is more similiar to Objective C) and known as Oak
(in honour of a tree outside Gosling’s office); however, Oak was previously copyrighted. More on
the history of Java can be found in the article about the Java platform, which includes the
language, the Java virtual machine, and the Java API. Java is owned by Sun Microsystems; the
term Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems.

Versions

The revisions and version of Java over the years.

ƒ JDK 1.0, 1996: Solaris, Windows, Mac OS Classic, Linux
ƒ JDK 1.1, 1997: Solaris, Windows, Mac OS Classic, Linux
ƒ JDK 1.2 (also known as Java 2), 1998: Solaris, Windows, Linux, ?
ƒ JDK 1.3, 2000: Solaris, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
ƒ JDK 1.4, 2002: Solaris, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
ƒ JDK 5.0, 2004 (formerly called 1.5)

1.0 Initial Release

Java was initially released as the Java Development Kit 1.0 (JDK 1.0). This included
the Java runtime (the virtual machine and the class libraries), and the development
tools (e.g., the Javac compiler). Later, Sun also provided a runtime-only package,
called the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). The first name stuck, however, so
usually people refer to a particular version of Java by its JDK version (e.g., JDK 1.0).

1.2 Java 2 Platform

The JDKs of version 1.2 and later versions are often called Java 2 as well. For
example, the official name of JDK 1.4 is The Java™ 2 Platform, Standard Edition
version 1.4.
Major changes include:
ƒ Rewrite the event handling (Add Event Listeners)
ƒ Change Thread syncronizations
 ƒ Introduction of the JIT-Just in time compilers
1.3, 1.4
The language as such has been stable since JDK 1.0; the class libraries that come with
the JDK got larger and have changed in some parts. Extensions and architectures
closely tied to the Java programming language include: J2EE, J2ME, JNDI, JSML,
JDBC, JAIN, JDMK, Jini,ytryy Jiro, JXTA, JavaSpaces, JMI.
1.5 (codename Tiger) was released in september 2004.
Major changes include:
ƒ Generics - Provides compile-time type safety for collections :and eliminates the
drudgery of casting.
ƒ Autoboxing/unboxing - Eliminates the drudgery of manual conversion between
primitive types (such as int) and wrapper types (such as Integer).
ƒ Enhanced for - Shorten the for loop with Collections use.
ƒ Static imports - Lets you import all the static part of a class.
ƒ Metadata - Lets you avoid writing boilerplate code, by enabling tools to generate
it from annotations in the source code. This leads to a “declarative” programming
style where the programmer says what should be done and tools emit the code to
do it.
ƒ JVM Improvements - Most of the run time library is now mapped into memory as
a memory image, as opposed to being loaded from a series of class files. Large
portion of the runtime libraries will now be shared among multiple JVM
instances.
(from )
 The Java Platform
The newer versions of Java, i.e., version 6.0 and 7.0 are being developed and are known
by their code-names Mustang and Dolphin respectively.

The Java platform is the name for a computing environment, or platform, from Sun
Microsystems which can run applications developed using the Java programming language and
set of development tools. In this case, the platform is not a specific hardware or operating system,
but rather an execution engine called a virtual machine, and a set of standard libraries which
provide common functionality.

The platform is properly called the Java 2 Platform (although the “2” is to be dropped ), and
includes a Standard Edition or J2SE (now Java SE), an Enterprise Edition or J2EE (now Java
EE), and a Micro Edition or J2ME (now Java ME). The current version of the Java 2 platform is
alternatively specified as version 1.5 or version 5 (both refer to the same version). A good
overview of the myriad of technologies that makes up the Java 2 Platform can be found on the
JDK Documentation Page.

Java technologies
The Java platform consists of a wide array of technologies, each of which provides a distinct
portion of the overall development or runtime environment. For example, end-users typically
interface with the Java virtual machine and the standard set of class libraries. In addition, there
are numerous ways for Java applications to be deployed, including being embedded into a web
page. Lastly, developers who are creating applications for the platform use a set of development
tools called the Java Development Kit.

Java Runtime Environment

A program targeting the Java platform needs two components to be present on its host: a Java
virtual machine, and a set of class libraries providing any services on which it depends. Sun’s
distribution of their JVM and their implementation of the standard classes is known as the Java
Runtime Environment (JRE).

Java Virtual Machine

The heart of the Java platform is the concept of a common “virtual” processor that executes Java
bytecode programs. This bytecode is the same no matter what hardware or operating system the
program is running under. The Java platform provides an interpreter called the Java virtual
machine (JVM), which translates the Java bytecode into native processor instructions at run-time.
This permits the same application to be run on any platform that has a virtual machine available.
Since JRE version 1.2, Sun’s JVM implementation has also included a just-in-time compiler.
Instead of interpreting the bytecode one instruction at a time, this converts the bytecode for a
program into equivalent native machine code as the program is loaded into the virtual machine,
causing it to execute much faster at the cost of a small delay whenever new bytecode is loaded.
This allows the JIT compiler to target a specific host platform and hardware, even potentially
optimizing the output code in different ways based on observations of the program’s behaviour.

This is not to say that one can truly compile Java code to its fullest extent (in order to reap the
benefits of speedy native machine code). Yes, there are “compilers” available that will attempt
this feat, but not all Java libraries have a machine code equivalent. For instance, the “reflect”
library, which allows Java programmers to delve into instructions only available at runtime, is not
well represented (if at all) by machine code.

Java was not the first virtual-machine-based platform, though it is by far the most successful and
well-known. Previous uses for virtual machine technology primarily involved emulators to aid
development for not-yet-developed hardware or operating systems, but the JVM was designed to
be implemented entirely in software, while making it easy to efficiently port an implementation to
hardware of all kinds.

Class libraries

In most modern operating systems, a large body of reusable code is provided to simplify the
programmer’s job. This code is typically provided as a set of dynamically loadable libraries that
applications can call at runtime. Because the Java platform is not dependent on any specific
operating system, applications cannot rely on any of the existing libraries. Instead, the Java
platform provides a comprehensive set of standard class libraries, containing much of the same
reusable functions commonly found in modern operating systems.

The Java class libraries serve three purposes within the Java platform. Like other standard code
libraries, they provide the programmer with a well-known set of functions to perform common
tasks, such as maintaining lists of items or performing complex string parsing. In addition, the
class libraries provide an abstract interface to tasks that would normally depend heavily on the
hardware and operating system. Tasks such as network access and file access are often heavily
dependent on the native capabilities of the platform. The Java java.net and java.io libraries
implement the required native code internally, then provide a standard interface for the Java
applications to perform those tasks. Finally, some underlying platforms may not support all of the
features a Java application expects. In these cases, the class libraries can either emulate those
features using whatever is available, or provide a consistent way to check for the presence of a
specific feature.

Languages
The word Java, by itself, usually refers to the Java programming language which was designed
for use with the Java platform. Programming languages are typically outside of the scope of the
phrase “platform”. However, Sun does not encourage the use of any other languages with the
platform, and lists the Java programming language as a core part of the Java 2 platform. The
language and runtime are therefore commonly considered a single unit.

Nevertheless, third parties have produced a number of compilers which target the JVM. Some of
these are for existing languages, while others are for extensions to the Java language itself. These
include:

ƒ Groovy
ƒ Pizza
ƒ GJ (Generic Java), which was incorporated into official Java as of Sun’s version
1.5.
ƒ NetREXX

Another option is to use a more interface approach like the Jyphon.

Similar Platforms
The success of Java and its write once, run anywhere concept has also led to other similar efforts.
The most notable of these is the Microsoft .NET platform, which borrows many of the concepts
and innovations of Java; in fact, it has an implementation of a Java-like language called Visual J#
(formerly known as J++). (It is Java-like in that J# is not the Java language. Instead, J# contains
non-standard extensions of the language.)

Later Microsoft stoped, withdrew its J# support, and created a new language called C#. C# is very
similar to J# and Java, but not compatible with them. The differences between Java and C# can be
read at w:Comparison of C Sharp and Java.

ƒ Java Programming ƒ Index

ƒ Getting ƒ Classes and

ƒ Overview ƒ Fundamentals
Started Objects

ƒ Concurrent
ƒ Collections ƒ Exceptions ƒ Reflection
Programming
ƒ Applets ƒ JavaBeans ƒ Libraries
Java Programming Environment
To compile Java programs, you will need to download and install the Java Development Kit
(JDK). This is available from Sun’s website. Other hardware and operating system vendors also
supply Java Development Kits for their platforms, although they may change the name of the kit.
Sun produces JDKs for Windows, Linux, and Solaris.

There are numerous environments you can use to develop your Java programs. You can choose to
write your programs in a text editor and then compile them using the command line, or you can
use an integrated development environment (IDE). IDEs like NetBeans and Eclipse provide many
useful functions such as syntax error checking, code completion, automatic compilation and
debugging, which you may find useful, especially if this is your first foray into programming.

The Java Compiler

The JDK consists of a set of tools necessary to construct Java programs. The most notable tool in
the JDK is the Java compiler, also known as javac.

javac compiles Java source files into executable Java class files. Source files are text files with a
.java file name extension. You can create such files with a text editor, like Notepad, or an IDE.
javac then compiles these files into loadable and executable class files, using the .class
extension. For example, if you create a Java class org/yahoos/util/PrintDate.java

package org.yahoos.util;
import java.util.Date;
public class PrintDate
{
public void main(String[] args)
{
System.out.println(new Date());
}
}

you can compile it by entering the following command in a command shell:

You would normally invoke this in a shell whose working directory is the root directory
containing all of your source files resides. (The Java package statement, package
org.yahoos.util, corresponds to the directory structure org/yahoos/util see Java packages.)

javac will create the file PrintDate.class in the same directory where the source file is
located. If there are syntax errors, javac will print those to the shell. The PrintDate.class file
contains the byte code, that will run under all hardware where the Java runtime is installed. Even
if the PrintDate.class file was created in Windows operating system, you can copy this file
to unix and it will be executed fine.
Usually there is more than one class file created and those files are packaged to a
application_name.jar file to distribute to run in any hardware.

IDEs may manage this process automatically. For example, Eclipse contains its own Java
compiler and thus does not use javac directly. It automatically compiles the Java source files
when you save them. The use of IDE’s such as Eclipse are beyond the scope of this module,
however, so consult the IDE’s tutorials and help to see how they provide a Java programming
environment.

The bytecode

It is clear from the above paragraph that the Java compiler compiles source code text files with
the extension .java into executable code usually confined into a class file with the .class
extension. Such code is called Bytecode.

In many languages prior to Java, the source code would generally compile into the machine-code
for the particular machine the program was compiled upon. Therefore, if a program was compiled
on an X86 machine, it would run only on an X86 machine and no other. Java, on the other hand,
produces a bytecode - an intermediate binary form of code that is a portable representation of the
Java class. Any Java Virtual Machine on any hardware/operating system platform can then
execute this same bytecode. There are some restrictions to this portability. For example, a Java
ME system cannot execute all programs compiled for the Java SE environment because Java ME
is pared down to small devices. But in general, a Java SE program can run unmodified on any
Java SE virtual machine.

The JIT compiler

Being compiled halfway through, it is the job of the Java Virtual Machine to compile the rest of
the program to native code at the time of its execution making Java code follow the “Write Once,
Run Anywhere” (WORA) policy. The compiler used to compile bytecode into machine-code at
runtime is called the Just-In-Time or JIT compiler. Once a piece of code is compiled by the JVM
to execution code, the code is used and re-used again and again, to speed up execution.

The Java Runtime Environment

The Java Runtime Environment, or JRE, is responsible for the execution of Java programs. The
Sun JDK also includes the JRE. The JRE however can also be installed and used without
installing the JDK which is useful if you wish to execute Java programs but not build them. The
JRE helps load Java programs into the memory and executes them.

Main entry point

In Java programming, classes are used to define objects and entities that hold particular data. To
execute a Java program, a special class is required to assist in loading the program into the
computer’s memory. Such a class contains a method with the following signature.

public static void main(String[] args) {...}

The class is hence said to have a main entry point defined and is usually called a Java program.
The method described above as the main entry point is usually nicknamed the main method. Java
classes without main methods are simply classes, although they may be part of a program.

Executing a command-line Java program

If a class which you compile with javac has a main entry point, you can execute the class by
specifying the class name as an argument to the java program.

This will run the main method in the PrintDate class in the org.yahoos.util package.
(Packages provide a convenient way to provide namespaces and organization of Java classes.
We’ll use org.yahoos.util as a parent package in this module. More on packages.)

Your program will begin execution in the shell window. Inputs and outputs will be gathered from
and to your shell window. On a Windows platform, you can use a DOS command window as the
command shell program for the execution of Java programs. The JRE is normally called java
because the java program is the most widely used program to execute Java programs.

Executing a Graphical User Interface Java program

On the Windows platform, there is an alternate JRE executable called javaw.exe or javaw
which runs Java programs as a Windows native application - that is, with no console for standard
input or output.

Rather than executing in the console, the Java program would be executed in a separate Windows
native process. This is typically done for Java applications which create their own graphical user
interface (GUI) windows. The above-mentioned org.yahoos.util.PrintDate program,
which prints output to the standard output stream, is not appropriate for use with javaw as there
is no console output. Instead, org.yahoos.util.ViewDate would be a program which creates
its own windows to display the date.

As with java, IDE’s also manage the execution of Java programs in slightly different ways. They
may provide shortcuts for running programs and windows for capturing the output.

On UNIX/Linux this does not matter. If the program is launched graphically (by file association
in a file manager) a console is not shown. GUI programs will have the titlebars following the look
and feel of your desktop (KDE, GNOME, Fluxbox, XFCE) theme.
 Other JDK tools
Apart from the tools specified above in detail, the JDK has matured over the years and has
included in itself several other tools. Where some of these tools are no longer used, others offer a
far greater deal of capability to the Java Development Kit. Below is a list of some of the tools
available for the JDK.

The apt tool

In Java 1.5 (alias Java 5.0) Sun added a mechanism called annotations. Annotations allow to add
meta-data to Java source code, and even provide mechanisms to carry that meta-data forth into a
compiled class files.

Also starting with Java 1.5 Sun added the apt tool to the JDK. apt works on Java source code. It
is an annotation processing tool which digs through source code, finds annotation statements in
the source code and executes actions if it finds known annotations. The most common task is to
generate some paticular source code.

The actions apt performs when finding annotations in the source code are not hard-coded into apt.
Instead, one has to code particular annotation handlers (in Java). These handlers are called
annotation processors.

The most difficult thing with apt is that Sun decided to use a whole set of new terminology. apt
can simply be seen as a source code preprocessor framework, and annotation processors are
typically just code generators.

The appletviewer tool

Java applets require a particular environment to execute. Typically, this environment is provided
by a browser with a decend Java plug-in, and a web server serving the applet. However, during
development and testing of an applet it might be more convenient to start an applet without the
need to fiddle with a browser and a web server. In such a case Sun’s appletviewer from the JDK
can be used to run an applet.

The javah tool

A Java class can call native, or non-Java, code that has been prepared to be called from Java. The
details and procedures are specified in the JNI (Java Native Interface). Commonly, native code is
written in C (or C++). The JDK tool javah helps to write the necessary C code, by generating C
header files and C stub code.

The extcheck tool

extcheck has also been appeared first with Java 1.5. It can be used prior to the installation of a
Java extension into the JDK or JRE environment. It checks if a particular Jar file conflicts with an
already installed extension.

Security Tools

The JDK comes with a large number of tools related to the security features of Java. Usage of
these tools first requires study of the particular security mechanisms.

The tools are:

keytool
To manage keys and certificates
jarsigner
To generate and verify digital signatures of JARs (Java ARchives)
policytool
To edit policy files
kinit
To obtain Kerberos v5 tickets
klist
To manage Kerberos credential cache and key table
ktab
To manage entries in a key table

The native2ascii tool

native2ascii is an important, though underappreciated, tool for writing properties files—files

containing configuration data—or resource bundles—files containing language translations of
text.

Such files can contain only ASCII and Latin-1 characters, but international programmers need a
full range of character sets. Text using these characters can appear in properties files and resource
bundles only if the non-ASCII and non-Latin-^1 characters are converted into Unicode escape
sequences (\uXXXX notation).

The task of writing such escape sequences is handled by native2ascii. You can write the
international text in an editor using the appropriate character encoding, then use native2ascii to
generate the necessary ASCII text with embedded Unicode escape sequences. Despite the name,
native2ascii can also convert from ASCII to native, so it is useful for converting an existing
properties file or resource bundle back to some other encoding.

native2ascii makes most sense when integrated into a build system to automate the conversion. ğ

RMI Tools

TODO
Java IDL and RMI-IIOP Tools

TODO

Deployment & Web Start Tools

Browser Plug-In Tools

TODO

Monitoring and Management Tools / Toubleshooting Tools

With Java 1.5 a set of monitoring and management tools have been added to the JDK, in addition
to a set of troubleshooting tools.

The monitoring and management tools are intended for monitoring and managing the virtual
machine and the execution environment. They allow, for example, monitoring memory usage
during the execution of a Java program.

The troubleshooting tools provide rather esoteric insight into aspects of the virtual mashine.
(Interestingly, the Java debugger is not categorized as a troubleshooting tool.)

All the monitoring and management and troubleshooting tools are currently marked as
“experimental” (which does not affect jdb). So they might disappear in future JDKs.

The Jar tool

Jar is short for Java archive. It is a tool for creating Java archives or jar files - a file with .jar
as the extension. A Java archive is a collection of compiled Java classes and other resources
which those classes may require (such as text files, configuration files, images) at runtime.
Internally, a jar file is really a .zip file.

The jdb tool

Jdb is short for Java debugger. The Java debugger is a command-line console that provides a
debugging environment for Java programs. Although you can use this command line console,
IDE’s normally provide easier to use debugging environments.

The Javadoc tool

As programs grow large and complex, programmers need ways to track changes and to
understand the code better at each step of its evolution. For decades, programmer have been
employing the use of special programming constructs called comments - regions that help declare
user definitions for a code snippet within the source code. But comments are prone to be verbose
and incomprehensible, let alone be difficult to read in applications having hundreds of lines of
code.

Java provides the user with a way to easily publish documentation about the code using a special
commenting system and the javadoc tool. The javadoc tool generates documentation about the
w:application programming interface (API) of a set of user-created Java classes. javadoc reads
source file comments from the .java source files and generates HTML documents that are easier
to read and understand without looking at the code itself.

The javap tool

Where Javadoc provide a detailed view into the API and documentation of a Java class, the
javap tool prints information regarding members (constructors, methods and variables) in a
class. In other words, it lists the class’ API and/or the compiled instructions of the class. javap is
a formatting disassembler for Java bytecode.

ƒ Java Programming ƒ Index

ƒ Getting ƒ Classes and

ƒ Overview ƒ Fundamentals
Started Objects

ƒ Concurrent
ƒ Collections ƒ Exceptions ƒ Reflection
Programming

ƒ Applets ƒ JavaBeans ƒ Libraries

 Installation
Check if Java is already installed
The Java Development Kit (JDK) is necessary to build Java programs. The Java Runtime
Environment (JRE) is necessary to execute Java programs. For our purposes, you must use a
JDK. First, check to see if a JDK is already installed on your system. To do so, first open a
terminal window or a command window and execute the

javac -version

command. If the JDK is installed and on your executable path, you should see some output which
tells you the version that is running. The output will vary depending on which version is installed
and which vendor provided the Java installation.

Here is the output on a RedHat Fedora Core 4 installation:

$ java -version
Eclipse Java Compiler 0.548, pre-3.1.0 milestone-6, Copyright IBM Corp 2000, 2005. All
rights reserved.

You may have other versions of Java installed; this command will only show the first in your
PATH.

If you get an error, such as

javac: command not found

then the JDK may not be installed or it may not be in your path. You can use your system’s file
search utilities to see if there is a javac or javac.exe executable installed. If it is, and it is a
recent enough version (Java 1.4.2 or Java 1.5, for example), you should put the bin directory that
contains javac in your system path. The Java runtime, java, is often in the same bin directory.

If the installed version is older (i.e. it is Java 1.3.1 or Java 1.4.2 and you wish to use the more
recent Java 5 release), you should proceed below wth downloading and installing a JDK.

Download a Java Development Kit

If a JDK is not already on your system, you should download one. For Sun’s Solaris operating
systems, Microsoft Windows operating systems (Windows XP, Windows Server 2000, Windows
Server 2003, etc.), you can download the JDK from Sun. For /Linux, you can download the JDK
from Sun or install one of the free JDK available. For other operating systems, the system vendor
probably has a download of the JDK (sometimes called a Software Development Kit or SDK), or
you may have to download a product which includes the JDK. Be sure to select a JDK that
matches not only your operating system but your hardware system.

For example for Linux running on the x86 architecture, you can download an RPM (RedHat
Package Manager) file or a self extracting .bin binary (such as jdk-1_5_0_06-linux-
i586.bin for Intel Pentium compatible machines) to get Java SE release 5. (Note: The file name
changes as new versions of Java are released.)

On Windows, you can download jdk-1_5_0_06-windows-i586-p.exe.

Install the JDK

When you execute the installer, it will install the JDK files. Note: you will need administrator
access to install the JDK. You can choose an installation location, such as c:\java\jdk\5.0 on
Windows or /var/local/java/5.0 on Linux. or use the default. This location is called the
JAVA_HOME and it is customary but not necessary to define an environment variable which refers
to that location.

You may also have to modify your path so that it includes the bin</bin> subdirectory of
your JAVA_HOME. You should put the JAVA_HOME/bin directory before other directories
where Java is installed. The above installations may put the JRE, java (or java.exe) in a
system bin directory, but they may not put all of the JDK executables in your path.

You may need to restart your command shell in order to pick up environment variable changes
for JAVA_HOME and PATH.

Install an IDE
You may optionally choose to install an IDE. There are many free and commercial IDE’s
available. For example, the Eclipse IDE found at http://www.eclipse.org includes many of the
tools necessary to build Java programs (such as a Java compiler, debugger, Javadoc, etc.) and
thus you do not need to install a JDK if you opt to use Eclipse. However, Eclipse does require
you to install a JRE - Eclipse is a Java program that runs within the JRE. The JDK download sites
mentioned above also include JRE downloads, and installation instructions are similar.

Another Popular IDE for the Windows platform is Borland’s JBuilder from
http://www.borland.com

And a popular Free IDE is JCreator LE from XINOX Software found at http://www.jcreator.com

However, even if you choose to use Eclipse, it is recommended that you download and install the
JDK. This will allow you to use scripts to build and test your Java software from outside the IDE
environment.
If you download Java from Sun’s site, you also have the option of installing the NetBeans IDE +
JDK 5.0 Update 6 bundle.

Install Validation
When you are done with the above JDK download and install instructions, repeat the

javac -version

command to verify that your path picks up the correct version of the JDK.

ƒ Java Programming ƒ Index

ƒ Getting ƒ Classes and

ƒ Overview ƒ Fundamentals
Started Objects

ƒ Concurrent
ƒ Collections ƒ Exceptions ƒ Reflection
Programming

ƒ Applets ƒ JavaBeans ƒ Libraries

Compilation
We have already discussed compilation basics . Here’s a recap of the concepts we’d seen earlier
and some additional details.

Compiling to bytecode
In Java, programs are not compiled into executable files; they are compiled into Bytecode (as
discussed earlier), which the JVM then executes at runtime. Java source code is compiled into
bytecode when we use the javac compiler. The bytecode gets saved on the disk with the file
extension .class. When the program is to be run, the bytecode is converted, using the Just-In-
Time(JIT) compiler. The result is machine code which is then fed to the memory and is executed.

So Java has two step compilation:

ƒ Step one to create byte-code

ƒ Step two to create machine level code

The Java classes/Byte Codes are compiled to machine code and loaded into memory by the JVM
when needed the first time. This is different than other languages like C/C++ where the whole
program had to be compiled to machine code and linked to create an executable, before the
program could start.

JIT compilers compile byte-code once and the compiled machine code are re-used again and
again, to speed up executations. A better name for JIT would be “Compile only once” compilers,
COO, or “Just-one-time” compilers, JOT. Early Java compilers compiled the byte-code to
machine code each time it was used, that was slow. It was still faster than an “interpreter-
language”, where code is compiled from high level language, not from byte-code each time it
was used.

Automatic Compilation of Dependent Classes

In Java, if you have used any reference to any other java object, then the class for that object will
be automatically compiled, if that was not compiled already. These automatic compilations are
nested, and this continues until all classes are compiled that are needed to run the program. So it
is enough to compile only the high level class, all the dependent classes will be automatically
compiled.

javac ... MainClass.java

You can’t rely on this feature if your program is using reflection to create objects, you are
compiling for servlets or for a “jar”, package. In these cases you should list these classes for
explicit compilation.

javac ... MainClass.java, ServletOne.java, ...

The best way is to use a build tool to build your application. The build tool would check all the
needed dependencies and compile only the needed class for the build. The Ant tool is the best and
the most popular build tool currently available. Using Ant you would build your application from
the command line by typing:

ant build.xml

The xml file contains all the information needed to build the application.

The next most popular way to build applications are using an IDE. IDE stands for Intergated
Development Environment. Some of them are listed below.

Packages and Subdirectories

Each Java top level class belongs to a package (covered in the chapter about Packages). This may
be declared in a package statement at the beginning of the file; if that is missing, the class
belongs to the unnamed package.

For compilation, the file must be in the right directory structure. A file containing a class in the
unnamed package must be in the current-root directory; if the class belongs to a package, it must
be in a directory with the same name as the package.

The convention is that package names and directory names coresponding to the package consist
of only lower case letters.

Examples

Top level package

A class with this package declaration

package example;

has to be in a directory named

example

Subpackages

A class with this package declaration

package org.yahoos.en;

has to be in a directory named

en

which has to be a sub-directory of

yahoos

which in turn has to be a sub-directory of

org

resulting in

org/yahoos/en

Filename Case
The Java source file name must be the same as the public class name, the file contains. There can
be only one public class defined per file. The Java class name is case sensitive, as is the source
file name.

The naming convention for the class name is for it to start with a capital letter.

Compiler Options
Debugging and Symbolic Information
 Additional Tools
IDEs

This section contains a little about the different IDEs available and their strengths and
weaknesses.

JBuilder
JBuilder is a IDE with proprietary source code, sold by Borland. One of the advantages in
integration with togheter, a modelling tool.

JCreator
There’s info at: http://www.apcomputerscience.com/ide/jcreator/index.htm

Eclipse
Eclipse is a free IDE, plus a developer tool framework that can be extended for a particular
development need. IBM was behind this free software development and it replaced IBM Visual
Age tool. The idea was to create a standard look and feel that can be extended. The extendibility
is distinguish Eclipse from any other IDE tools. Eclipse also meant to compete with Microsoft
Visual Studio tools. Microsoft tools give a standard way of developing code in the Microsoft
world. Eclipse gives simular standard way of developing code in the Java world, with a big
success so far. With the online error checking only, coding can be speed up by at least
50%(coding does not include programming).

The goal for Eclipse are twofold:

ƒ Give a standard IDE for developing code

ƒ Give a starting point, and the same look and feel for all other more sophisticated
tools build on Eclipse

IBM’s WSAD, and later IBM Rational Software Development Platform are built on Eclipse.

Standard Eclipse features:

ƒ Standard window management (perspectives, views, browsers, explorers, ...)

ƒ As you type error checking (immediate error indications, ...)
ƒ As you type help window (type ., or <ctrl> space, ...)
ƒ Automatic build (changed source code automatically compiled, ...)
ƒ Built in debugger (full featured GUI debugger)
ƒ Source code generation (getters and setters, ...)
ƒ Searches (for implementation, for references, ...)
 ƒ Code refactoring (global reference update, ...)
ƒ Plug-in-based architecture (be able to build tools that integrate seamlessly with
the environment and other tools)
ƒ ...

NetBeans
The NetBeans IDE is a free, open-source Integrated Development Environment for software
developers. The IDE runs on many platforms including Windows, Linux, Solaris, and the
MacOS. It is easy to install and use straight out of the box. The NetBeans IDE provides
developers with all the tools they need to create professional cross-platform desktop, enterprise,
web and mobile applications.

BlueJ
BlueJ is an IDE that includes templates and will compile and run the applications for you. BlueJ
is often used by classes because it is not necessary to set classpaths. BlueJ has it’s own sets of
Library’s and you can add your own under preferances. That sets the classpath for all
compilations that come out of it to include those you have added and the BlueJ libraries.

BlueJ offers an intresting GUI for creation of packages and programs. Classes are represented as
boxes with arrows running between them to represent inheratance/implementation or if on is
constructed in another. BlueJ addes all those classes (the project) into the classpath at compile
time.
BlueJ Homesite

Kawa
Kawa was developed by Tek-Tools. It is basically a Java editor, It does not include wizards, and
GUI tools, best suited to experienced Java programmers in small and midsized delelopment
teams.

Ant
Ant is a build management tool designed to replace MAKE as the tool for automated builds of
large Java applications. Like Java, and unlike MAKE, Ant is designed to be platform
independent.

Building a Java application requires certain tasks to be performed. Those tasks may include not
only to compile the code, but also to copy code, to package the code to Jar, to create EJBs, to run
automated tests, to ftp the code to remote site, and so on. For some tasks a condition can be
assigned, for example a compile only changed code, or do the task if that was not already done
so. Tasks dependency can also be specified, that will make sure that the order of executions of the
tasks are in the right order. For example compile the code before package them to jar, the
package-to-jar task depend on the compilation task.

The tasks and their dependencies are defined in a “build.xml” file. The Ant program will parse it
and do whatever it describes. The Ant tool much more powerful than the MAKE tool. Because of
the java codes are spread out in the file system according the java package(name space), the use a
MAKE tool feels very awkward.

Also the Ant tool is written in Java and can be extended, so if there is a task you’d like to be done
during the build, and the task is not in the pre-defined tasks list, you can write it yourself. It is
very easy to hook your ant task code to the other tasks, you code only needs to be in the classpath,
and the Ant tool will load it during runtime. Your ant task code has to follow the Ant framework,
that’s all.

The JIT compiler

The standard JIT compiler runs on demand. When a method is called repeatedly, the JIT compiler
analyzes the bytecode and produces highly efficient machine code, which runs very fast. The JIT
compiler is smart enough to recognize when the code has already been compiled, so as the
application runs, compilation happens only as needed. As Java applications run, they tend to
become faster and faster, because the JIT can perform runtime profiling and optimization to the
code to meet the execution environment. Methods or code blocks which do not run often receive
less optimization; those which run often (so called hotspots) receive more profiling and
optimation.

ƒ Java Programming ƒ Index

ƒ Getting ƒ Classes and

ƒ Overview ƒ Fundamentals
Started Objects

ƒ Concurrent
ƒ Collections ƒ Exceptions ƒ Reflection
Programming
ƒ Applets ƒ JavaBeans ƒ Libraries
Execution
There are various ways Java code can be executed. A complex Java application are usually using
third party APIs or services. In this section we list the most popular way a piece of Java code may
be packed together and/or executed.

JSE code execution

Java language first edition came out in the client-server era. Thick clients were developed with
reach GUI interfaces. Java first edition, JSE(Java Standard Edition) had/has the following in its
belt:

ƒ GUI capabilities (AWT, Swing)

ƒ Network computing capabilities (RMI)
ƒ Multi-tasking capabilities (Threads)

With JSE the following Java code executions are possible:

Figure 1: Stand alone execution

Stand alone Java application
(Figure 1) Stand alone application refers to a Java program where both the user
interface and business modules are running on the same computer. The application
may or may not use a database to persist data. The user interface could be either
AWT or Swing.
The application would start with a main() method of a Class. The application stops
when the main() method exits, or if an exception is thrown from the application to
the JVM. Classes are loaded to memory and compiled as needed, either from the file
system or from a *.jar file, by the JVM.

Java ‘jar’ class libraries

Utility classes, framework classes, and/or third party classes are usually packaged and
distributed in Java ‘ *.jar’ files. These ‘jar’ files need to be put in the CLASSPATH
of the java program from which these classes are going to be used.
Figure 2: Applet Execution
Java Applet code
(Figure 2) Java Applets are Java code referenced from HTML pages, by the
<APPLET> tag. The Java code is downloaded from a server and running in the client
browser JVM. Java has built in support to render applets in the browser window.
Applets did not fulfil its promise at this writing (year 2006). Sophisticated GUI
clients were found hard to develop mostly because of the download time,
incompatibilitys between browser’s JVM, and its communication requirements back
to the server. Applets are really used today and if they are used at all they are used as
small separate graphic-like animation applets. The main and final blow was made by
Microsoft, first by withdrawing its Java support from its Internet Explorer product,
and second by excluding the Java JRE from Internet Explorer’s default configuration.
More information can be found about applets at the Applet Chapter, in this book.
Also google has an article about Applets.

Client Server applications

The client server applications consist of a front-end, and a back-end part, both
running on a separate computer. The idea is that the business logic would be on the
back-end part of the program, which would be reused by all the clients. Here the
challange is to achive a separation between front-end user interface code, and the
back-end business logic code.
The communication between the front-end and the back-end can be achived by two
ways.
ƒ One way is to define a data communication protocol between the two tiers. The
back-end part would listen for an incomming request. Based on the protocol it
interprets the request and sends back the result in data form.
ƒ The other way is to use Java Remote Invocation(RMI). With the use of RMI, a
remote object can be created and used by the client. In this case Java objects are
transmitted across the network.
Web Applications
For applications needed by lots of client intallations, the client-server model did not
work. Maintaining and upgrading the hundreds or thousands of clients caused a
problem. It was not practical. The solution to this problem was to create a unified,
standard client, for all applications, and that is the Browser.
 Having a standard client, it makes sense to create a unified, standard back-end service
as well, and that is the Application Server.
Web Application is an application that is running in the Application Server, and it
can be accessed and used by the Browser client.
There are three main aria of interest in Web Applications, those are:
ƒ The Web Browser. This is the container of randering HTML text, and running
client scripts
ƒ The HTTP protocol. Text data are sent back and forth between Browser and the
Server
ƒ The Web server to serve static content, Application server to serve dynamic
content and host EJBs.

J2EE code execution

As the focus was shifting from reaching GUI clients to thin client applications, with Java version
2, Sun introduced J2EE(Java 2 Extended Edition). J2EE added :

ƒ Components Base Architecture, (Servlet,JSP,EJB Containers)

With J2EE the following Java component executions are possible:

Figure 3: Servlet Execution

Java Servlet code
(Figure 3) Java got its popularity with server side programming, more specifically
with J2EE servlets. Servlets are running in a simple J2EE framework to handle client
HTTP requests. It meant to replace CGI programming for web pages rendering
dynamic content.
The servlet is running in a so called servlet-container/web container. The servlet
responsibilty is to:
ƒ Handle the request by doing the business logic computation, connecting to a
database if needed
ƒ Create HTML to present to the user through the browser
The HTML output represents both the presention logic and the result of the business
computations. This represents a huge problem, and there is no real application relying
only on servlets to handle the presention part of the responsibility. There are two
main solutions to this:
 ƒ Use a template tool (Store the presentation part in an HTML file, marking the
areas that need to be replaced after business logic computations).
ƒ Use JSP (See next section)

Figure 4: Jsp Execution

Java Server Pages (JSP) code
(Figure 4) JSP is an HTML file with embedded Java code inside. The first time the
JSP is accessed, the JSP is converted to a Java Servlet. This servlet outputs HTML
which has inside the result of the business logic computation. There are special JSP
tags that helps to add data dynamically to the HTML. Also JSP technology allows to
create custom tags.
Using the JSP technology correctly, business logic computations should not be in the
embedded Java part of the JSP. JSP should be used to render the presentation of the
static and dynamic data. Depending on the complexity of the data, 100% separation is
not easy to achieve. Using custom tags, however may help to get closer to 100%. This
is advocated also in MVC architecture(see below).

Figure 5: EJB Execution

EJB code
(Figure 5) In 1990s, with the client server computing, a trend started, that is to move
away from Mainfraim computing. That resulted many small separate application in a
Company/Enterprise. Many times the same data were used in different applications.
A new philosophy “Enterprize Computing” was created to address these issues. The
idea is to create components that can be reused throughtout the Enterprise. The
Enterprise Java Beans(EJBs) were suppose to address this.
An EJB is a application component that runs in an EJB container. The client access
the EJB modules through the container, never directly. The container manage the life
cycle of the EJB modules, and handles all the issues arises from network/enterpise
computing. Some of those are security/access control, object pooling, transaction
management, ... .
 EJBs have the same problems as any reusable code. EJBs need to be generic enough
to be able to reuse. The changes and maintenance of them can affect existing clients.
Many times EJBs are used unnecessary when they are not really needed. An EJB
should be designed as a separate application in the enterprize, fulfilling one
functionality.

Figure 6: MVC Execution

Combine J2EE components to create an MVC architecture
This leads us to the three layers/tiers as shown in (Figure 6).
In modern web applications, with lots of static data and nice graphics, how the data is
presented to the user became very important and usually needs the help of a graphic
artist.
To help programmers and graphic artists to work together, the separation between
data, code, and how it is presented became crucial.
ƒ The view (User Interface Logic) contains the logic that is necessary to construct
the presentation. This could be handled by JSP technology.
ƒ The servlet acts as the controller and contains the logic that is necessary to
process user events and to select an appropriate response.
ƒ The business logic (model) actually accomplishes the goal of the interaction. This
might be a query or an update to a database. This could be handled by EJB
technology.

JINI
After J2EE Sun had a vision about the next step of network computing. That is JINI. The main
idea is that in a network environment, there would be many independent services and consumers.
JINI would allow these services/consumers to interact dynamically with each other in a robust
way. The basic features of JINI are:

ƒ No user intervention is needed when services are brought on or offline. (In

contrast to EJBs where the client program has to know the server and port number
 where the EJB is deployed. In JINI the client is supposed to find, discover the
service in the network.)
ƒ Self healing by adapting when services(consumers of services) come and go.
(Services need to periodically renew a lease to indicate that they are still
available.)
ƒ Consumers of JINI services do not need prior knowledge of the service’s
implementation. The implementation is downloaded dynamically and run on
the consumer JVM, without configuration and user intervention. (For example,
the end user may be presented with slightly different user interface depending
which service is being used at the time. The implementation of those user
interface code would be provided by the service being used.)

A minimal JINI network environment consist of:

ƒ One or more services

ƒ A lookup-service keeping a list of registered services
ƒ One or more consumers

JINI is not widely used at the current writing (2006). There are two possible reasons for it. One is
JINI a bit complicated to understand and to set it up. The other reason is that Microsoft pooled
out from Java, which caused the industry to turn to the use of proprietary solutions.
 First Java Program
Hello World
Generally when you first start programming in any language, you’ll start with the traditional
Hello World example. That said, let’s start building your first Java program. You guessed it, it’s
Hello World! Before starting this exercise, make sure you know how to Compile and run Java
programs.

Open your IDE and write the following text. Pay close attention to capitalization, as Java is case
sensitive

public class HelloWorld {

public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println(“Hello, world!”);
}
}

Save it as HelloWorld.java. Again, make sure that the filename is the same case as the class
name. Compile and run it:

javac HelloWorld.java
java HelloWorld

Your computer should display

Hello, world!

Line-by-line Analysis

The first line of the class,

public class HelloWorld {

declares a Java class named HelloWorld. This class is declared public - it is available to any
other class. The next line,

public static void main(String[] args) {

begins a Java method named main. The main method is where Java will start executing the
program. args is a method parameter which will contain the command line arguments used to run
the program. The method must be both public and static for the program to run correctly. For
more information on modifiers such as public and static, see Access Modifiers.

The

System.out.println(“Hello, world!”);

statement sends the text Hello, world! to the console (with a line terminator). The final two
braces mark the end of the main method and the end of the class.

Modifying the Program

Now, we will modify this program to print the first command line argument, if there is one, along
with the greeting. For example, if you invoke the program as

java HelloWorld yahoos

it will print

Hello, yahoos!

Go back to your the program, and modify it to read

public class HelloWorld {

public static void main(String[] args) {
String who;
if (args.length > 0) {
who = args[0];
} else {
who = “World”;
}
System.out.println(“Hello, “ + who + “!”);
}
}

Run it again. It should display

Hello, yahoos!
or, if you do not pass a command line parameter, it will simply print

Hello, World!

Common Problems
If the program does not work as you expect, check the following common errors.

ƒ Are you sure all words are spelled correctly and with the exact case as shown?
ƒ Are there semicolons and brackets in the appropriate spot?
ƒ Are you missing a quote?

The Next Step

Now that you have seen the classic Hello, World program in Java, let’s move on to a more
realistic example which highlights the object oriented nature of Java. Visit Understanding a Java
Program which presents key Java language features along with a more complete explanation of
the syntax and structure of a basic Java program.

ƒ Java Programming ƒ Index

ƒ Getting ƒ Classes and

ƒ Overview ƒ Fundamentals
Started Objects

ƒ Concurrent
ƒ Collections ƒ Exceptions ƒ Reflection
Programming

ƒ Applets ƒ JavaBeans ƒ Libraries

 Understanding a Java Program
This article presents a small Java program which can be run from the console. It computes the
distance between two points on a plane. You need not understand the structure and meaning of
the program just yet; we will get to that soon. Also, because the program is intended as a simple
introduction, it has some room for improvement, and later in the module we will show some of
these improvements. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves!

The Distance Class: Intent, Source, and Use

This class is named Distance, so using your favorite editor or Java IDE, first create a file named
Distance.java, then copy the source below and paste it into the file and save the file.

public class Distance

{
private java.awt.Point point0, point1;
public Distance(int x0, int y0, int x1, int y1)
{
point0 = new java.awt.Point(x0, y0);
point1 = new java.awt.Point(x1, y1);
}

public void printDistance()

{
System.out.println(“Distance between “ + point0 + “ and “ + point1
• “ is “ + point0.distance(point1));
}

public static void main(String[] args)

{
Distance dist = new Distance(
intValue(args[0]), intValue(args),
intValue(args), intValue(args));
dist.printDistance();
}

private static int intValue(String data)

{
return Integer.parseInt(data);
}
}

At this point, you may wish to review the source to see how much you might be able to
understand. While perhaps not being the most literate of programming languages, someone with
understaning of other procedural languages such as C, or other OO languages such as C++ or C#,
will be able to understand most if not all of the sample program.

Once you save the file, compile the program:

javac Distance.java
(If the javac command fails, review the Java installation instructions.)

To run the program, you supply it with the x and y coordinates of two points on a plane. (For this
version of Distance, only integer points are supported.) The command sequence is

java Distance x0 y0 x1 y1

to compute the distance between the points (x0, y0) and (x1, y1)

For example, the command

java Distance 0 3 4 0

will compute the distance between the points (0,3) and (4,0) and print the following:

Distance between java.awt.Point[x=0,y=3] and java.awt.Point[x=4,y=0] is 5.0

The command

java Distance -4 5 11 19

will compute the distance between the points (-4,5) and (11,19):

Distance between java.awt.Point[x=-4,y=5] and java.awt.Point[x=11,y=19] is

20.518284528683193

Detailed Program Structure and Overview

As promised, we will now provide a detailed description of this Java program. We will discuss
the syntax and structure of the program and the meaning of that structure.

Introduction to Java Syntax

The syntax of a Java class is the characters and symbols and their structure used to code the class
using Unicode characters. A fuller treatment of the syntax elements of Java may be found at
Syntax. We will provide here only enough description of the syntax to grasp the above program.

Java programs consist of a sequence of tokens. There are different kinds of tokens. For example,
there are word tokens such as class and public which represent keywords - special words with
reserved meaning in Java. Other words (non keywords such as Distance, point0, x1, and
printDistance) are identifiers. Identifiers have many different uses in Java but primarily they
are used as names. Java also has tokens to represent numbers, such as 1 and 3; these are known as
literals. String literals, such as “Distance between “, consist of zero or more characters
embedded in double quotes, and operators such as + and = are used to express basic computation
such as addition or String concatenation or assignment. There are also left and right braces ({ and
}) which enclose blocks. The body of a class is one such block. Some tokens are punctuation,
such as periods . and commas , and semicolons ;. You use whitespace such as spaces, tabs, and
newlines, to separate tokens. For example, whitespace is required between keywords and
identifiers: publicstatic is a single identifier with twelve characters, not two Java keywords.

Declarations and Definitions

Sequences of tokens are used to construct the next building blocks of Java classes: declarations
and definitions. A class declaration provides the name and visibility of a class. For our example,

public class Distance

is the class declaration. It consists (in this case) of two keywords, public and class followed
by the identifier Distance.

This means that we are definining a class named Distance. Other classes, or in our case, the
command line, can refer to the class by this name. The public keyword is an access modifier
which declares that this class and its members may be accessed from other classes. The class
keyword, obviously, identifies this declaration as a class. Java also allows declarations of
interfaces and (as of Java 5) annotations.

The class declaration is then followed by a block (surrounded by curly braces) which provides the
class’ definition. The definition is the implementation of the class - the declaration and definitions
of the class’ members. This class contains exactly six members, which we will explain in turn.

1. Two field declarations, named point0 and point1

2. A constructor declaration
3. Three method declarations

Example: Instance Fields

The declaration

private java.awt.Point point0, point1;

declares two instance fields. Instance fields represent named values that are allocated whenever
an instance of the class is constructed. When a Java program creates a Distance instance, that
instance will contain space for point0 and point1. When another Distance object is created,
it will contain space for its own point0 and point1 values. The value of point0 in the first
Distance object can vary independently of the value of point0 in the second Distance
object.

This declaration consists of:

1. The private access modifier, which means these instance fields are not visible to
other classes.
2. The type of the instance fields. In this case, the type is java.awt.Point. This the
the class Point in the java.awt package.
3. The names of the instance fields in a comma separated list.

These two fields could also have been declared with two separate but more verbose declarations,

private java.awt.Point point0;

private java.awt.Point point1;

Since the types of these fields is a reference type (i.e. a field that refers to or can hold a reference
to an object value), Java will implicitly initialize the values of point0 and point1 to null when
a Distance instance is created. The null value means that a reference value does not refer to an
object. The special Java literal, null is used to represent the null value in a program. While you
can explicitly assign null values in a delcaration, as in

private java.awt.Point point0 = null;

private java.awt.Point point1 = null;

it is not necessary and most programmers omit such default assignments.

Example: Constructor

A constructor is a special method in a class which is used to construct an instance of the class.
The constructor can perform initialization for the object, beyond that which the Java VM does
automatically. For example, Java will automatically initialize the fields point0 and point1 to
null.

Below is the constructor for this class. It consists of five parts:

1. The optional access modifier(s). In this case, the constructor is declared public
2. The constructor name, which must match the class name exactly: Distance in
this case.
3. The constructor parameters. The parameter list is required. Even if a constructor
does not have any parameters, you must specify the empty list (). The parameter
list declares the type and name of each of the method’s parameters.
 4. An optional throws clause which declares the exceptions that the constructor may
throw. This constructor does not declare any exceptions.
5. The constructor body, which is a Java block (enclosed in {}. This constructor’s
body contains two statements.
public Distance(int x0, int y0, int x1, int y1)
{
point0 = new java.awt.Point(x0, y0);
point1 = new java.awt.Point(x1, y1);
}

This constructor accepts four parameters, named x0, y0, x1 and y1. Each parameter requires a
parameter type declaration, which in this example is int for all four parameters. Java integer
values are signed, 32 bit twos complement integers. The parameters in the parameter list are
separated by commas.

The two assignments in this constructor use Java’s new operator to allocate two
java.awt.Point objects. The first allocates an object represeting the first point, (x0, y0),
and assigns it to the point0 instance variable (replacing the null value that the instance variable
was initialized to). The second statement allocates a second two java.awt.Point instance with
(x1, y1) and assigns it to the point1 instance variable.

This is the constructor for the Distance class. Distance implicitly extends from
java.lang.Object. Java inserts a call to the super constructor as the first executable statement
of the constructor if there is not one explicitly coded. The above constructor body is equivalent to
the following body with the explicit super constructor call:

{
super();
point0 = new java.awt.Point(x0, y0);
point1 = new java.awt.Point(x1, y1);
}

While it is true that this class could be implemented in other ways, such as simply storing the

coordinates of the two points and computing the distance as ,

this class instead uses the existing java.awt.Point class. This choice matches the abstract
definition of this class: to print the distance bewteen two points on the plane. We take advantage
of existing behavior already implemented in the Java platform rather than implementing it again.
We will see later how to make the program more flexible without adding much complexity,
because we choose to use object abstractions here. However, the key point is that this class uses
information hiding. That is, how the class stores its state or how it computes the distance is
hidden. We can change this implementation without altering how clients use and invoke the class.

Example: Methods
Methods are the third and most important type of class member. This class contains three methods
in which the behavior of the Distance class is defined: printDistance(), main(), and
intValue()

The printDistance() method

The printDistance() method prints the distance between the two points to the standard output
(normally the console).

public void printDistance()

{
System.out.println(“Distance between “ + point0
• “ and “ + point1
• “ is “ + point0.distance(point1)); }
}

This instance method executes within the context of an implicit Distance object. The instance
field references, point0 and point1, refer to instance fields of that implicit object. You can also
use the special variable this to explicitly referene the current object. Within an instance method,
Java binds the name this to the object on which the method is executing, and the type of this is
that of the current class. The body of the printDistance method could also be coded as

System.out.println(“Distance between “ + this.point0

• “ and “ + this.point1
• “ is “ + this.point0.distance(this.point1)); }

to make the instance field references more explicit.

This method both computes the distance and prints it in one statement. The distance is computed
with point0.distance(point1); distance() is an instance method of the
java.awt.Point class (of which point0 and point1 are instances. The method operates on
point0 (binding this to the object that point0 refers to during the execution of the method)
and acceping another Point as a paramemer. (Actually, it is slightly more complicated than that,
but we’ll explain later.) The result of the distance() method is a double precision floating
point number.

This method uses the syntax

“Distance between “ + this.point0

• “ and “ + this.point1
• “ is “ + this.point0.distance(this.point1)

to construct a String to pass to the System.out.println(). This expression is a series of

String concatenation methods which concatenates Strings or the String representation of
primitive types (such as doubles) or objects, and returns a long string. For example, the result of
this expression for the points (0,3) and (4,0) is the String

“Distance between java.awt.Point[x=0,y=3] and java.awt.Point[x=4,y=0] is 5.0”

which the method then prints to System.out.

In order to print, we invoke the println(). This is an instance method from

java.io.PrintStream, which is the type of the static field out in the class
java.lang.System. The Java VM binds System.out to the standard output stream when it
starts a program.

The main() method

The main() method is the main entry point which Java invokes when you start a Java program
from the command line. The command

java Distance 0 3 4 0

instructs Java to locate the Distance class, put the four command line arguments into an array of
String values, then pass those arguments the public static main(String[]) method of the
class. (We will introduce arrays shortly.) Any Java class that you want to invoke from the
command line or desktop shortcut must have a main method with this signature.

public static void main(String[] args)

{
Distance dist = new Distance(
intValue(args[0]), intValue(args),
intValue(args), intValue(args));
dist.printDistance();
}

The main() method invokes the final method, intValue(), four times. The intValue() takes
a single string parameter and returns the integer value represented in the string. For example,
intValue(“3”) will return the integer 3.

The intValue() method

The intValue() method delegates its job to the Integer.parseInt() method. The main
method could have called Integer.parseInt() directly; the intValue() method simply
makes the main() method slightly more readable.

private static int intValue(String data)

 {

return Integer.parseInt(data);

This method is private since, like the fields point0 and point1, it is part of the internal
implementation of the class and is not part of the external programming interface of the
Distance class.

Static vs. Instance Methods

Both the main() and intValue() methods are static methods. The static keyword tells the
compiler to create a single memory space associated with the class. Each individual object
instantiated has its own private state variables and methods but use the same static methods and
members common to the single class object created by the compiler when the first class object is
instantiated or created. This means that the method executes in a static or non-object context -
there is no implicit separate instance available when the static methods run from various objects,
and the special variable this is not available. As such, static methods cannot access instance
methods or instance fields (such as printDistance()) or point0) directly. The main()
method can only invoke the instance method printDistance() method via an instance
reference such as dist.

Data Types

Most declarations have a data type. Java has several categories of data types: reference types,
primitive types, array types, and a special type, void.

Reference Types

A reference type is a Java data type which is defined by a Java class or interface. Reference types
derive this name because such values refer to an object or contain a reference to an object. The
idea is similar to pointers in other languages like C.

Java represents sequences of character data, or String, with the reference type
java.lang.String which is most commonly referred to as String. String literals, such as
“Distance between “ are constants whose type is String.

This program uses three separate reference types:

1. java.lang.String (or simply String)

2. Distance
3. java.awt.Point

Primitive Types
In addition to object or reference types, Java supports primitive types. The primitive types are
used to represent Boolean, character, and numeric values. This program uses only one primitive
type explicitly, int, which represents 32 bit signed integer values. The program also implicitly
uses double, which is the return type of the distance() method of java.awt.Point.
double values are 64 bit IEEE floating point values. The main() method uses integer values 0,
1, 2, and 3 to access elements of the command line arguments. The Distance() constructor’s
four parameters also have the type int. Also, the intValue() method has a return type of int.
This means a call to that method, such as intValue(args[0]), is an expression of type int.
This helps explain why the main method cannot call

new Distance(args[0], args[0], args[0], args[0]) // this is an error

Since the type of the args array element is String, and our constructor’s parameters must be int,
such a call would result in an error because Java cannot automatically convert values of type
String into int values.

Java’s primitive types are boolean, byte, char, short, int, long, float and double, each
of which are also Java language keywords.

Array Types

Java supports arrays, which are aggregate types which have a fixed element type (which can be
any Java type) and an integral size. This program uses only one array, String[] args. This
indicates that args has an array type and that the element type is String. The Java VM
constructs and initializes the array that is passed to the main method. See arrays for more details
on how to create arrays and access their size.

The elements of arrays are accessed with integer indices. The first element of an array is always
element 0. This program accesses the first four elements of the args array explicitly with the
indices 0, 1, 2, and 3. (This program does not perform any input validation, such as verifying that
the user passed at least four arguments to the program. We will fix that later.)

void

void is not a type in Java; it represents the absense of a type. Methods which do not return values
are declared as void methods.

This class defines two void methods:

public static void main(String[] args) { ... }

public void printDistance() { ... }
 ƒ Java Programming ƒ Index

ƒ Getting ƒ Classes and

ƒ Overview ƒ Fundamentals
Started Objects

ƒ Concurrent
ƒ Collections ƒ Exceptions ƒ Reflection
Programming

ƒ Applets ƒ JavaBeans ƒ Libraries

Syntax
Java derives much of its syntax from the C programming language: basic assignment statement
syntax, expressions, control flow statements and blocks, etc. will be very familiar to C
programmers.

Unicode
Java source code are built by Unicode characters.

Tokens
Java programs consist of a sequence of different kinds of tokens. For example, there
are word tokens such as class and public which are keywords.

Keywords
Those are special words with reserved meaning in Java. Those words can not be used
by the programers to name identifiers.

Identifiers
Other words (non keywords) are identifiers. Identifiers have many different uses in
Java but primarily they are used as names, class names, method names, and variable
names... .
literals
Java also has tokens to represent numbers, such as 1 and 3; these are known as
literals.
String literals, such as “http://en.yahoos.org/Java_Programming”, consist of zero
or more characters embedded in double quotes.

Operators
And operators such as + and = are used to express basic computation such as addition
or String concatenation or assignment.

Blocks
There are also left and right braces ({ and }) which enclose blocks. The body of a
class is one such block.

Statements
A Block contains one or more Java statement(s), separated by semicolons. A
statement is the smallest building block of Java.

Separators
Some tokens are punctuation, such as periods . and commas , and semicolons ;.
whitespace
 You use whitespace such as spaces, tabs, and newlines, to separate tokens. For
example, whitespace is required between keywords and identifiers: publicstatic is
a single identifier with twelve characters, not two Java keywords.

Comments
Comments are not part of the exacuting code. Comments are used to document the
code.

Unicode
Java source files consist of Unicode text files written in UTF-16 encoding. Most Java program
text consists of ASCII characters, but Unicode escape sequences may be used to express any
Unicode character when needed.

For example, Π (which is the Greek Capital Letter Pi) is a valid Java identifier. Π may also be
represented in Java as the Unicode escape sequence \u03A0. Thus, the following is a valid, but
not very readable, declaration and assignment:

double \u03A0 = Math.PI;

The following demonstrate the use of Unicode escape sequences in other Java syntax:

// Declare Strings pi and quote which contain \u03A0 and \u0027

respectively:
String pi = “\u03A0”;
String quote = “\u0027”;

Keywords
Keywords are special tokens in the language which have reserved use in the language. Keywords
may not be used as identifiers in Java - you cannot declare a field whose name is a keyword, for
instance.

Examples of keywords are the primitive types, int and boolean; the control flow statements
for and if; access modifiers such as public, and special words which mark the declaration and
definition of Java classes, packages, and interfaces: class, package, interface.

Below are all the Java langauge keywords:

abstract continue for new switch

assert default if package synchronized

boolean do goto private this

break double implements protected throw

byte else import public throws

case enum instanceof return transient

catch extends int short try

char final interface static void

class finally long strictfp volatile

const float native super while

abstract is a Java keyword.

It declares a class abstract, not all its methods are defined/implemented. Objects can not be
created from an abstract class. It needs to have a non abstract subclass in order to create an
object.

It also declares a method abstract, that is not implemented in the abstract class. A method can not
be declared abstract in a non abstract class.

Syntact:

public abstract ClassName

or
abstract public ClassName
and for methods in an abstract class :
public abstract void methodName(); // --- No body, no implementation ---
or
abstract public void methodName(); // --- No body, no implementation ---

For Example:

public abstract ClassName

{
// --- This method does not have a body, its abstract ---
public abstract void abstractMethod();
...

// --- This method does have a body, it is implemented in the abstarct class, gives a
default behavior ---
public void normalMethod()
{
...
}
}
assert is a Java keyword used to define an assert statement. An assert statement is used to
declare an expected boolean condition in a program. If the program is running with assertions
enabled, then the condition is checked at runtime. If the condition is false, the Java runtime
system throws a AssertionError.

An example:

assert list != null && list.size() > 0;

Object value = list.get(0);

Assertions are usually used as a debugging aid. They should not be used instead of validating
arguments to public methods.

Assertions are enabled with the Java -ea or -enableassertions runtime option. See your
Java environment documentation for additional options for controlling assertions.

boolean is a keyword which designates the boolean primitive type. There are only two
possible boolean values: true and false. The default value for boolean fields is false.

The following is a declaration of a private boolean field named initialized, and its use in
a method named init()

private boolean initialized; // default value is false

public synchronized void init() {
if ( ! initialized ) {
connection = connect();
initialized = true;
}
}

Note that there is no automatic conversion between integer types (such as int) to boolean as is
possible in some languages like C. Instead, one must use an equivalent expression such as (i !=
0) which evaluates to true if i is not zero.

break is a Java keyword.

Jumps (breaks) out from a loop. Also used at switch statement.

For Example:
for ( int i=0; i < maxLoopIter; i++ )
{
System.println(“Iter=” +i);
if ( i == 5 )
{
break; // -- 5 iteration is enough—
}
}

byte is a keyword which designates the 8 bit signed integer primitive type.

The java.lang.Byte class is the nominal wrapper class when you need to store an int value
but an object reference is required.

Syntact:

byte <variable-name> = <integer-value>;

For Example:

byte b = 65;
or
byte b = ‘A’;

‘A’ is the number 65 ASCII representation.

case is a Java keyword.

This is part of the switch statement.

catch is a keyword.

It’s part of a try block. If an exception is thrown inside a try block, the exception will be
compared to any of the catch part of the block. If the exception match with one of the exception
in the catch part, the exception will be handled there.

For example:
try {

...

throw new MyException_1();

...
} catch ( MyException_1 e ) {
// --- Handle the Exception_1 here—
} catch ( MyException_2 e ) {
// --- Handle the Exception_2 here—
}

char is a keyword.

It defines a character primitive type.

The java.lang.Character class is the nominal wrapper class when you need to store an char
value but an object reference is required.

Syntact:

char <variable-name> = ‘<character>’;

For Example:

char oneChar = ‘A’;

or
char oneChar = 65;

65 is the character ‘A’ numeric representation, or ASCII code.

System.out.println( oneChar );

Output:

class is a Java keyword which begins the declaration and definition of a class.

The general syntax of a class declaration, using Extended Backus-Naur Form, is

class-declaration ::= [access-modifiers] class identifier
[extends-clause] [implements-clause]
class-body

extends-clause ::= extends class-name

implements-clause ::= implements interface-names

interface-names ::= interface-name [, interface-names]
class-body ::= { [member-declarations] }
member-declarations = member-declaration [member-declarations]
member-declaration = field-declaration
| initializer
| constructor
| method-declaration
| class-declaration

The extends word is optional, if omitted, the class extends the Object class, as all Java class
inherited from it.

const is a reserved keyword, presently not being used.

continue is a Java keyword.

Skip the reminder of the loop and ‘continue’ with the next iteration.

For Example:

for ( int i=0; i < maxLoopIter; i++ )

{
if ( i == 5 )
{
continue; // -- 5 iteration is skiped—
}
System.println(“Iteration = “ +i);
}

default is a Java keyword.

This is an optional part of the switch statement.

do is a Java keyword.

It starts a do-while looping block. The do-while loop is functionally similar to the while loop,
except the condition is evaluated AFTER the statement executes
Syntax:

do{
statement;

} while (condition);

For Example:

do ( i < maxLoopIter )
{

} while ( i < maxLoopIter )

double is a keyword which designates the 64 bit float primitive type.

The java.lang.Double class is the nominal wrapper class when you need to store an double
value but an object reference is required.

Syntact:

double <variable-name> = <float-value>;

For Example:

double d = 65.55;

else is a Java keyword.

It is an optional part of a branching statement. It starts the ‘false’ statement block.

The general syntax of a if, using Extended Backus-Naur Form, is

branching-statement ::= if condition-clause

single-statement | block-statement
[ else
single-statement | block-statement ]
condition-clause ::= ( Boolean Expression )
single-statement ::= Statement
block-statement ::= { Statement [ Statement ] }

For Example:

if ( boolean Expression )
{
System.println(“’True’ statement block”);
}
else
{
System.println(“’False’ statement block”);
}

enum is a keword since Java 1.5.

Defines a group of constants.

For Example:

enum Grade { A, B, C, D, F };
...
private Grade gradeA = Grade.A;

This enum constant then can be passed in to methods:

student.assigneGrade( gradeA );
...
public void assignGrade(Grade grade)
{
this.grade = grade;
}

extends is a Java keyword.

Used in class and interface definition to declare the class or interface that is to be extended.

Syntact:

public class MyClass extends SuperClass

{
...
}

public interface MyInterface extends SuperInterface

{
 ...
}

final is a keyword.

It has more then one meaning depending whether it used for a class, a method, or for a variable.

ƒ It is denoting that a variable is to be constant. This is similar to const in other

languages. A variable declared with the final keyword cannot be modified by
the program after initialization. This is useful for universal constants, such as pi,
or other values that the programmer would like to keep constant throughout the
code.
ƒ It marks a method final, meaning that subclasses can not override this method.
The compiler checks and gives an error if you try to override the method.
ƒ It marks a class final, meaning that the class can not be subclassed.

For Example

final double PI = 3.1415926;

final public void method()
{
...
}

final public class MyClass

{
...
}

Note that final is always placed before the variable type.

Access Modifiers

finally is a keyword.

It is an optional part of a try block. The code inside the finally block will always be executed,
even if there is an exception in the try block.

Three things can happen in a try block:

ƒ No exception is thrown. In such a case, the following are executed:

ƒ code in the try block
ƒ code in the finally block
ƒ code after the try-catch block
 ƒ An exception is thrown and a matching catch block found. In such a case, the
following are executed:
ƒ code in the try block until where the exception occured
ƒ code in the matched catch block
ƒ code in the finally block
ƒ code after the try-catch block
ƒ An exception is thrown and no matching catch block exists. In such a case, the
following are executed:
ƒ code in the try block until where the exception occured
ƒ code in the finally block

Note: in that third and final case, NO CODE after the try-catch block is executed.

For Example:

public void method() throws NoMatchedException

{
try {
...
throw new MyException_1();
...
} catch ( MyException_1 e ) {
// --- Handle the Exception_1 here—
} catch ( MyException_2 e ) {
// --- Handle the Exception_2 here—
} finally {
// --- This will always be executed no matter what—
}
// --- Code after the try-catch block
}

Note: if there is an exception that happens before the try-catch block, the finally block is not
executed.

ƒ Keywords/try
ƒ Keywords/catch
ƒ Throwing and Catching Exceptions#Catching Rule

float is a keyword which designates the 32 bit float primitive type.

The java.lang.Float class is the nominal wrapper class when you need to store an float
value but an object reference is required.

Syntact:

float <variable-name> = <float-value>;

For Example:

float f = 65.55;

ƒ Primitive Types

for is a Java keyword.

It starts a looping block.

The general syntax of a for, using Extended Backus-Naur Form, is

for-looping-statement ::= for condition-clause

single-statement | block-statement
condition-clause ::= ( before-statement; Boolean Expression ; after-
statement )
single-statement ::= Statement
block-statement ::= { Statement [ Statement ] }

For Example:

for ( int i=0; i < maxLoopIter; i++ )

{
System.println(“Iter=” +i);
}

ƒ Keywords/while
ƒ Keywords/do

if is a Java keyword.

It starts a branching statement.

The general syntax of a if, using Extended Backus-Naur Form, is

branching-statement ::= if condition-clause

single-statement | block-statement
[ else
single-statement | block-statement ]
condition-clause ::= ( Boolean Expression )
single-statement ::= Statement
block-statement ::= { Statement [ Statements ] }
For Example:

if ( boolean Expression )
{
System.println(“’True’ statement block”);
}
else
{

System.println(“’False’ statement block”);

ƒ Keywords/else

goto is a reserved keyword, presently not being used.

implements is a Java keyword.

Used in class definition to declare the Interfaces that are to be implemeted by the class.

Syntact:

public class MyClass implements MyInterface1, MyInterface2

{
...
}

ƒ Creating Objects
ƒ Keywords/class

import is a Java keyword.

It declares a Java class to use in the code below the import statement. Once a Java class is
declared, then the class name can be used in the code without specifying the package the class
belongs to.

Use the ‘*’ character to declare all the class belonging to the package.

Syntax:
import package.JavaClass;
import package.*;

ƒ Packages

instanceof is a keyword.

It checks an object reference if that defined by a class or its subclasses and returns a boolean
value;

The <object-reference> instanceof Object will return true for all object references, since all
Java objects are inherited from Object

Syntact:

<object-reference> instanceof ClassName

For example:

class Fruit
{
...
}
class Apple extends Fruit
{
...
}
class Organge extends Fruit
{
...
}
public class Test
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Collectiom coll = new ArrayList();
Apple app1 = new Apple();
Apple app2 = new Apple();
coll.add(app1);
coll.add(app2);

Orange or1 = new Orange();

Orange or2 = new Orange();
coll.add(or1);
coll.add(or2);

printColl(coll);
}

private static String printColl( Collection coll )

 {
Iterator iter = coll.iterator();
while (iter.hasNext())
{
Object obj = iter.next();
if ( obj instanceof Object )
{
System.out.print( “It is a Java Object and” );
}
if ( obj instanceof Fruit )

System.out.print( “It is a Fruit and” );

}
if ( obj instanceof Apple )
{
System.out.println( “it is an Apple” );
}
if ( obj instanceof Orange )
{
System.out.println( “it is an Orange” );
}
}
}
}

Run the program:

java Test

The output:

“It is a Java Object and It is a Fruit and it is an Apple”

“It is a Java Object and It is a Fruit and it is an Apple”
“It is a Java Object and It is a Fruit and it is an Orange”
“It is a Java Object and It is a Fruit and it is an Orange”

int is a keyword which designates the 32 bit signed integer primitive type.

The java.lang.Integer class is the nominal wrapper class when you need to store an int
value but an object reference is required.

Syntact:

int <variable-name> = <integer-value>;

For Example:

int i = 65;

ƒ Primitive Types

interface is a Java keyword.

Starts the declaration of a Java Interface.

For example:

public interface
{
public void method1();
...
}

ƒ Keywords/new

long is a keyword which designates the 64 bit signed integer primitive type.

The java.lang.Long class is the nominal wrapper class when you need to store an long value
but an object reference is required.

Syntact:

long <variable-name> = <integer-value>;

For Example:

long l = 65;

ƒ Primitive Types

native is a java keyword.

It marks a method, that it will be implemented in other languages, not in Java. It works together
with JNI(Java Native Interface)
Syntact:

public native method();

new is a Java keyword. It creates a Java object.

Syntact:

JavaType variable = new JavaObject();

ƒ Creating Objects

package is a Java keyword.

It declares a ‘name space’ for the Java class. It must be put at the top of the Java file, it should be
the first Java statement line.

To make the package name to be unique across vendors, usually the company url is used stating
in backword.

Syntact:

package package;

For Example:

package com.mycompany.myapplication.mymodule;

ƒ Packages
ƒ Keywords/import

private is a Java keyword which declares a members access as private. That is, the member is
only visible within the class, not from any class (including subclasses). The visibility of private
members extends to nested classes.

Syntact:

private void method();

 ƒ Access Modifiers

protected is a Java keyword.

It is an access modifier, it is used before a method, to indicate that the method can be accessed
only by the class subclasses.

Syntact:

protected void method();

ƒ Access Modifiers

public is a Java keyword which declares a member’s access as public. Public members are
visible to all other classes. This means that any other class can access a public field or method.
Further, other classes can modify public fields unless the field is declared as final.

A best practice is to give fields private access and reserve public access to only the set of
methods and final fields that define the class’ public constants. This helps with encapulation
and information hiding, since it allows you to change the implementation of a class without
affecting the consumers who use only the public API of the class.

Below is an example of an immutable public class named Length which maintains private
instance fields named units and magnitude but provides a public constructor and two public
accessor methods.

package org.yahoos.java;
public class Length {
private double magnitude;
private String units;
public Length(double magnitude, String units) {
if (units == null || units.trim().length() == 0)
throw new IllegalArgumentException(“non-null, non-empty units
required.”);
this.magnitute = magnitude;
this.units = units;
}
public double getMagnitude() {
return magnitude;
}
public String getUnits() {
return units;
}
}

return is a Java keyword.

Returns a primitive value, or an object reference, or nothing(void). It does not return object
values, only object references.

Syntax:

return variable; // --- Returns variable

or

return; // --- Returns nothing

short is a keyword.

It defines a 16 bit signed integer primitive type.

Syntact:

short <variable-name> = <integer-value>;

For Example:

short shr = 65;

ƒ Primitive Types

static is a keyword that states that all instances of a given class are to share the same
variable/method. This is used for a constant variable or a method that is the same for every
instance of a class, such as the methods in the Math class. The main method of a class is
generally labelled static

No object needs to be created to use static variables or call static methods. Just put the class name
before the static variable or method to use them.

Static methods can not call non static methods. The this current object reference is also not
available in static methods.

Syntact:

public static variableName;

or
static public variableName;
and for methods :
public static void methodName()
{
...
}
or
static public void methodName()
{
...
}

To access them :
ClassName.variableName = 10;

ClassName.methodName();

For Example:

public static final double pi = 3.14159;

public static void main(String[] args)
{
...
}

strictfp is a java keyword, since Java 1.2 .

It makes sure that floating point calculations result precisely the same regardless of the
underlying operating system and hardware platform, even if more precision could be obtained.
This is compatible with the earlier version of Java 1.1 . If you need that use it.

Syntact:

public strictfp class MyClass

{
...
}
or
strictfp public class MyClass
{
...
}

public strictfp void method()

{
...
}
or
strictfp public void method()
{
...
}
super is a keyword.

Used inside a sub-class method definition to call a method defined in the super class. Private
methods of the super-class can not be called. Only public and protected methods can be called by
the super keyword.

Syntact:

super.<method-name>();

For Example:

public class SuperClass

{
public void printHello()
{
System.out.println( “Hello from SuperClass” );
return;
}
}
...
public class SubClass
{
public {{java:void)) printHello()
{
super.printHello();
System.out.println( “Hello from SubClass” );
return;
}

public static main( String[] args )

{
SubClass obj = new SubClass();
obj.printHello();
}
}

Running the above program:

Java SubClass

The output:

“Hello from SuperClass”

“Hello from SubClass”
 ƒ Keywords/extends

switch is a Java keyword.

It is a branching operation, based on a number. The ‘number’ must be either char, byte, short,
or int primitive type.

Syntact:

switch ( <integer-var> )
{
case <label1>: <statements>;
case <label2>: <statements>;
...
case <labeln>: <statements>;
default: <statements>;
}

When the <integer-var> value match one of the <label>, then: The statements after the matched
label will be executed including the following label’s statements, until the end of the switch
block, or until a break keyword is reached.

For Example:

int var = 3;
switch ( var )
{
case 1: System.out.println( “Case: 1” );
System.out.println( “Execute until break” );
break;
case 2: System.out.println( “Case: 2” );
System.out.println( “Execute until break” );
break;
case 3: System.out.println( “Case: 3” );
System.out.println( “Execute until break” );
break;
case 4: System.out.println( “Case: 4” );
System.out.println( “Execute until break” );
break;
default: System.out.println( “Case: default” );
System.out.println( “Execute until break” );
break;
}

The output from the above code is:

Case: 3
Execute until break

The same code can be written with if-else blocks”:

int var = 3;

if ( var == 1 )

{
System.out.println( “Case: 1” );
System.out.println( “Execute until break” );
}
else if ( var == 2 )
{
System.out.println( “Case: 2” );
System.out.println( “Execute until break” );
}
else if ( var == 3 )
{
System.out.println( “Case: 3” );
System.out.println( “Execute until break” );
}
else if ( var == 4 )
{
System.out.println( “Case: 4” );
System.out.println( “Execute until break” );
}
else // -- This is the default part—
{
System.out.println( “Case: default” );
System.out.println( “Execute until break” );
}

ƒ Keywords/if

synchronized is a keyword.

It marks a ‘critical section’. A ‘critical section’ is where one and only one thread is executing. So
to enter into the marked code the threads are ‘synchronized’, only one can enter, the others have
to wait. For more information see Syncronizing Threads Methods.

The synchronized can be used in two ways:

ƒ Mark a method synchronized

ƒ Create a synchronized block

Syntact to mark a method synchronized:

public synchronized void method()
{
// --- Only one thread is allowed to be here—
}

Syntact to mark a synchronized block:

synchronized ( <object_reference >

// --- Only one thread is allowed to be here—

}

this is a Java keyword.

It contains the current object reference.

Syntact:

this.method();

For Example:

public class MyClass

{
...
private String _memberVar;
...
public void setMemberVar( String value )
{
this._memberVar= value;
}
}

throw is a keyword.

It ‘throws’ a Java Exception.

Syntact:
throw <Exception Ref>;

For Example:

public Customer findCustomer( String name ) throws CustomerNotFoundException

{
Customer custRet = null;
Iterator iter = _customerList.iterator();
while ( iter.hasNext() )
{
Customer cust = (Customer) iter.next();
if ( cust.getName().equals( name ) )

// --- Customer find—

custRet = cust;
{{java:break));
}
}
if ( custRet == null )
{
// --- Customer not found ---
throw new CustomerNotFoundException( “Customer “+ name + “was not found” );
}

return custRet
}

ƒ Keywords/throws

throws is a Java keyword.

Used in a method definition to declare the Exceptions to be thrown by the method.

Syntact:

public myMethod() throws MyException1, MyException2

{
...
}

transient is a Java keyword.

It flags a field as something that should not be considered part of an objects persistent state.
It marks a member variable not to be serialized, when it is persisted to streams of bytes. When an
object is transferred through the network, the object needs to be ‘serialized’. Serialization
converts the object state to serial bytes. Those bytes are sent over the network and an the object is
recreated from those bytes. Member variables marked by the java transient keyword are not
transferred, they are lost on purpose.

Syntact:

private transient <member-variable>;

or
transient private <member-variable>;

For example:

public class Foo

{
private String saveMe;
private transient String dontSaveMe;
private transient String password;
.
.
}

ƒ Java language specification reference: jls

ƒ Serializable Interface. Serializable

try is a keyword.

It starts a try block. If an Exception is thrown inside a try block, the Exception will be compared
any of the catch part of the block. If the Exception match with one of the Exception in the catch
part, the exception will be handled there.

Three things can happen in a try block:

ƒ No exception is thrown:
ƒ the code in the try block
ƒ plus the code in the finally block will be executed
ƒ plus the code after the try-catch block is executed
ƒ An exception is thrown and a match is found among the catch blocks:
ƒ the code in the try block until the exception occured is executed
ƒ plus the matched catch block is executed
ƒ plus the finally block is executed
 ƒ plus the code after the try-catch block is executed
ƒ An exception is thrown and no match found among the catch blocks:
ƒ the code in the try block until the exception occured is executed
ƒ plus the finally block is executed
ƒ NO CODE after the try-catch block is executed

For Example:

public void method() throws NoMatchedException

{
try {
...
throw new MyException_1();
...

} catch ( MyException_1 e ) {

// --- Handle the Exception_1 here—

} catch ( MyException_2 e ) {
// --- Handle the Exception_2 here—
} finally {
// --- This will always be executed no matter what—
}
// --- Code after the try-catch block
}

How the catch-blocks are evaulated see Catching Rule

ƒ Keywords/catch
ƒ Keywords/finally
ƒ Throwing and Catching Exceptions#Catching Rule

void is a Java keyword.

Used at method declaration and defination to specify that the method does not return any type, the
method returns void. It is not a type and there is no void references/pointers as in C/C++.

For example:

public void method()

{
...
return; // -- In this case the return is optional
}

ƒ Keywords/return
volatile is a keyword.

It marks a member variable not to be used in optimization, during compilation. The compiler may
rearange code to gain performance, this can cause problems when a member variable can be
changed by many threads. Those member variables that can be changed by more then one thread
should be set to volatile.

Syntact:

private volatile <member-variable>;

or
volatile private <member-variable>;

For example:

private volatile changingVar;

ƒ Keywords/synchronized

while is a Java keyword.

It starts a looping block.

The general syntax of a while, using Extended Backus-Naur Form, is

while-looping-statement ::= while condition-clause

single-statement | block-statement
condition-clause ::= ( Boolean Expression )
single-statement ::= Statement
block-statement ::= { Statement [ Statements ] }

For Example:

while ( i < maxLoopIter )

{
System.println(“Iter=” +i++);
}

ƒ Statements
ƒ Keywords/for
ƒ Keywords/do
 Literals
Java Literals are syntactic representations of boolean, character, numeric, or string data. Literals
provide a means of expressing specific values in your program. For example, in the following
statement, an integer variable named count is declared and assigned an integer value. The literal
0 represents, natually enough, the value zero.

int count = 0;

The following method call passes a String literal “int count = 0;” the boolean literal true
and the special null value null to the method parse():

List items = parse(“int count = 0;”, true, null;

ƒ Boolean Literals
ƒ Numeric Literals
ƒ Character Literals
ƒ Integer Literals
ƒ Floating Point Literals
ƒ String Literals
ƒ null

ƒ Java Programming ƒ Index

ƒ Getting ƒ Classes and

ƒ Overview ƒ Fundamentals
Started Objects

ƒ Concurrent
ƒ Collections ƒ Exceptions ƒ Reflection
Programming

ƒ Applets ƒ JavaBeans ƒ Libraries

 Blocks
Java has a concept called block that is enclosed between the { and } characters, called curly
braces. A block executed as a single statetement, and can be used where a single statetement is
accepted.

After a block is executed all local variables defined inside the block is discarded, go out of scope.

{
...
// -- This is a block ---
}

Blocks can be nested:

{
...
{
// -- This is a nested block ---
}
}

Whitespaces
Whitespace in Java is used to separate the tokens in a Java source file. Whitespace is required in
some places, such as between access modifiers, type names and Identifiers, and is used to
improve readability elsewhere.

Wherever whitespace is required in Java, one or more whitespace characters may be used.
Wherever whitespace is optional in Java, zero or more whitespace characters may be used.

Java whitespace consists of the

ƒ space character ‘ ‘ (0x20),

ƒ the tab character (hex 0x09),
ƒ the form feed character (hex 0x0c),
ƒ the line separators characters newline (hex 0x0a) or carriage return (hex 0x0d)
characters.

Line separators are special whitespace characters in that they also terminate line comments,
whereas normal whitespace does not.

Other Unicode space characters, including vertical tab, are not allowed as whitespace in Java.

Required Whitespace
Below is the declaration of an abstract method taken from a Java class

public abstract Distance distanceTo(Destination dest);

Whitespace is required between public and abstract, between abstract and Distance,
between Distance and distanceTo, and between Destination and dest.

However, the following is not legal:

publicabstractDistance distanceTo(Destination dest);

because whitespace is required between keywords and identifiers. The following is lexically valid

publicabstractDistance distanceTo(Destination dest);

but means something completely different: it declares a method which has the return type
publicabstractDistance It is unlikely that this type exists, so the above would result in a
semantic error.

Indentation
Java ignores all whitespace in front of a statement. As this, these two code snippets are identical
for the compiler:

public static void main(String[] args) {

printMessage();
}

void printMessage() {
System.out.println(“Hello World!”);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
printMessage();
}

void printMessage() {
System.out.println(“Hello World!”);
}

However, the first one’s style (with whitespace) is preferred, as the readability is higher. (The
method body is easier to distinguish from the head, even at a higher reading speed.)
 Statements
In Java programming, instructions are referred to as statements. A clear indicator that a line of
code is a statement is its termination with an ending semicolon (;). For instance, consider the
following statement.

int i = 9; // a single statement

If one were to write multiple statements, it is recommended that each statement be entered on a
separate line and should end with a semicolon (;).

int a = 10; // a statement

int b = 20; // another statement
int result = a + b; // yet another statement

However, there is no problem writing the code this way.

int a = 10; int b = 20; int result = a + b;

The former code gathers appeal in the developer circles. Writing statements as in the second
example only makes your code look more complex and incomprehensible.

The C Programming yahoo describes very well how and why we should ident our code. That also
applies to Java code. For details see C Programming/Structure and style.

Java is an Obejct Oriented language, and such it is built on the structural programming paradime,
where code consists of:

ƒ Sequences
ƒ Branches
ƒ Loops(Iterations)

Program Control Flow

When multiple statements are encountered in a program, they are evaluated in the order that they
occur. The execution of flow would begin at the top most statement and proceed downwards till
the last statement is encountered. Such flow is entirely straight-forward and would requires loads
of lines of code to encounter trivial tasks. Modern language address this problem with a
programming construct called branching, described in detail in a later section.
 Statement Blocks
A bunch of statements can be placed in braces to be executed as a single block. Such a block of
statement can be named or be provided a condition for execution. Below is how you’d place a
series of statements in a block.

{
int a = 10;
int b = 20;
int result = a + b;
}

Branching Statements
Program flow can be affected using function declaration, loops and iterations. Of various types of
branching constructs, we can easily pick out two generic branching methods.

ƒ Unconditional Branching
ƒ Conditional Branching

Unconditional Branching Statements

If you’d closely look at a method, you’ll see that a method is a named statement block that is
executed by calling that particular name. An unconditional branch is created either by invoking
the method or by calling break, continue, return or throw, all of which are described in
below.

When a name of a method is encountered in a flow, it stops execution in the current method and
branches to the newly called method. After returning a value from the called method, execution
picks up at the original method on the line below the method call.

public class UnconditionalBranching

{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
System.out.println(“Inside main method! Invoking aMethod!”);
aMethod();
System.out.println(“Back in main method!”);
}
public static void aMethod()
{
System.out.println(“Inside aMethod!”);
}
}

Running the above code would provide us with this screen of information.
Inside main method. Invoking aMethod
Inside aMethod
Back in main method

The program flow begins in the main method. Just as aMethod is invoked, the flow travels to the
called method. At this very point, the flow branches to the other method. Once the method is
completed, the flow is returned to the point it left off and resumes at the next statement after the
call to the method.

Conditional Branching Statements

Conditional branching is attained with the help of the if...else and switch statements. A
conditional branch occurs only if a certain condition expression evaluates to true.

Conditional Statements

Also referred to as if statements, these allow a program to perform a test and then take action
based on the result of that test.

The form of the if statement:

if (condition){
do statements here if condition is true
} else {
do statements here if condition is false
}

The condition is a boolean expression which can be either true or false. The actions performed
will depend on the value of the condition.

Example:

if ( i > 0 ){
System.out.println(“value stored in i is greater than zero”);
}
else {
System.out.println(“value stored is not greater than zero”);
}

If statements can also be made more complex using the else if statement

if (condition 1){
do statements here if condition 1 is true
}
else if (condition 2){
do statements here if condition 1 is false and condition 2 is true

} else {

do statements here if neither condition 1 nor condition 2 is true

}

Example:

if ( i > 0 ){
System.out.println(“value stored in i is greater than zero”);
}
else if (i < 0){
System.out.println(“value stored in i is less than zero”);
}
else {
System.out.println(“value stored is equal to 0”);
}

If there is only one statement to be executed after the condition, as in the above example, it is
possible to omit the curly braces, however Sun’s Java Code Conventions explicitly state that the
braces should always be used.

There is no looping involved in an if statement so once the condition has been evaluated the
program will continue with the next instruction after the statement.

If...else statements

The if ... else statement is used to conditionally execute one of two blocks of statements,
depending on the result of a boolean condition.

Example:

if (list == null) {
// this block of statements executes if the condition is true
}
else {
// this block of statements executes if the condition is false
}

Sun’s Java Code Conventions explicitly state that the braces should always be used.

An if statement has two forms:

if (boolean-condition)
statement1

and

if (boolean-condition)
statement1
else
statement2

Use the second form if you have different statements to execute if the boolean-condition is true or
if it is false. Use the first if you only wish to execute statement1 if the condition is true and you do
not wish to execute alternate statements if the condition is false.

The following example calls two int methods, f() and f(), stores the results, then uses an if
statement to test if x is less than y and if it is, the statement1 body will swap the values. The end
result is x always contains the larger result and y always contains the smaller result.

int x = f();
int y = y();
if ( x < y ) {
int z = x;
x = y;
y = z;
}

if...else statements also allow for the use of another statement, else if. This statement is used
to provide another if statement to the conditional that can only be executed if the others are not
true. For example:

if (x == 2)
x = 4;
else if (x == 3)
x = 6;
else
x = -1;

The else if statement is useful in this case because if one of the conditionals is true, the other
must be false. Keep in mind that if one is true, the other will not execute. For example, if the
statement contained in the first conditional, if(x == 2), were changed to x = 3;, the second
conditional, the else if, would still not execute. However, when dealing with primitive types in
conditional statements, it is more desirable to use switch statements rather than multiple
else if statements.

Switch statements
The switch conditional statement is basically a shorthand version of writing many if...else
statements. The syntax for switch statements is as follows:

switch(<variable>)

case <result>: <statements>; break;

case <result>: <statements>; break;
default: <statements>; break;
}

This means that if the variable included equals one of the case results, the statements following
that case, until the word break will run. The default case executes if none of the others are
true. Note: the only types that can be analysed through switch statements are char, byte,
short, or int primitive types. This means that String variables can not by analysed through
switch statements.

int n = 2, x;
switch(n)
{
case 1: x = 2; break;
case 2: x = 4; break;
case 3: x = 6; break;
case 4: x = 8; break;
}
return x;

In this example, since the integer variable n is equal to 2, case 2 will execute, make x equal to
4. Thus, 4 is returned by the method.

Iteration Statements
Iteration Statements are statements that used to iterate a block of statements. Such statements are
often referred to as loops. Java offers four kinds of iterative statements.

ƒ The while loop

ƒ The do...while loop
ƒ The for loop
ƒ The foreach loop

The while loop

The while loop iterates a block of code while the condition it specifies is true.

The syntax for the loop is:

while(condition){
statement;
}

Here the condition is an expression. An expression as discussed earlier is any statement that
returns a value. While condition statements evaluate to a boolean value, that is, either true or
false. As long as the condition is true, the loop will iterate the block of code over and over and
again. Once the condition evaluates to false, the loop exits to the next statement outside the
loop.

The do...while loop

The do-while loop is functionally similar to the while loop, except the condition is evaluated
AFTER the statement executes

do{
statement;
} while (condition);

The for loop

The for loop is a specialized while loop whose syntax is designed for easy iteration through a
sequence of numbers Example:

for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {

System.out.println(i + “\t” + i * i);
}

If you compile and run the statement above, the program will print the numbers 0 to 99 and their
squares

0 0
1 1
2 4
3 9
...
100 10000

The same statement in a while loop:

int i = 0;
while (i < 100){
System.out.println(i + “\t” + i * i);
i++;
}

The foreach loop

The foreach statement allows you to iterate through all the items in a collection, examining
each item in turn while still preserving its type. The syntax for the foreach statement is:

for(type item : collection) statement;

For an example, we’ll take an array of Strings denoting days in a week and traverse through the
collection, examining one item at a time.

String[] days = {”Monday”, “Tuesday”, “Wednesday”, “Thursday”, “Friday”, “Saturday”,

“Sunday”};
for(String day : days) {
System.out.println(day);
}

The output of this program would be:

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

Notice that the loop automatically exits after the last item in the collection has been examined in
the statement block.

The continue and break statements

At times, you would like to re-iterate a loop without executing the remaining statement within the
loop. The continue statement causes the loop to re-iterate and start over from the top most
statement inside the loop.

Where there is an ability to re-iterate the loop, there is an ability to exit the loop when required.
At any given moment, if you’d like to exit a loop and end all further work within the loop, the
break ought to be used.

Also, the continue and break statements can be used with a label like follows:
String s = “A test string for the switch!\nLine two of test string...”;
outer: for (int i=0;i<s.length();i++) {
switch(s.charAt(i)) {
case ‘\n’: break outer;
case ‘ ‘: break;
default: System.out.print(s.charAt(i));
}

Compiling and running this statement will produce

Ateststringfortheswitch!

ƒ Java Programming ƒ Index

ƒ Getting ƒ Classes and

ƒ Overview ƒ Fundamentals
Started Objects

ƒ Concurrent
ƒ Collections ƒ Exceptions ƒ Reflection
Programming

ƒ Applets ƒ JavaBeans ƒ Libraries

Classes, Objects and Types
Objects and Classes
An object is composed of members and methods. The members, also called data members,
characteristics, attributes, or properties, describe the object. The methods generally describe the
actions associated with a particular object. Think of an object as a noun, its members as adjectives
describing that noun, and its methods as the verbs that can be performed by or on that noun.

For example, a sports car is an object. Some of its members might be its height, weight,
acceleration, and speed. An object’s members just hold data about that object. Some of the
methods of the sports car could be “drive”, “park”, “race”, etc. The methods really don’t mean
much unless associated with the sports car, and the same goes for the members.

The blueprint that lets us build our sports car object is called a class. A class doesn’t tell us how
fast our sports car goes, or what color it is, but it does tell us that our sports car will have a
member representing speed and color, and that they will be say, a number and a word (or hex
color code), respectively. The class also lays out the methods for us, telling the car how to park
and drive, but these methods can’t take any action with just the blueprint - they need an object to
have an effect.

Instantiation and Constructors

In order to get from class to object, we “build” our object by instantiation. Instantiation simply
means to create an instance of a class. Instance and object are very similar terms and are
sometimes interchangeable, but remember that an instance refers to a specific object, which was
created from a class.

This instantiation is brought about by one of the class’s methods, called a constructor. As its
name implies, a constructor builds the object based on the blueprint. Behind the scenes, this
means that computer memory is being allocated for the instance, and values are being assigned to
the data members.

There are three constuctor types: default, non-default, and copy.

A default constructor will build the most basic instance. Generally, this means assigning all the
members values like null, zero, or an empty string. Nothing would stop you, however, from your
default sports car color from being red, but this is generally bad programming style. Another
programmer would be confused if your basic car came out red instead of say, colorless.

A non-default constructor is designed to create an object instance with prescribed values for
most, if not all, of the object’s members. The car is red, goes from 0-60 in 12 seconds, tops out at
190mph, etc.
A copy constructor is generally not seen in the Java language, but it’s important to understand
what it is. As the name implies, a copy constructor creates a new instance to be a duplicate of an
already existing one. In Java, this is usually accomplished by creating the instance with the
default constructor, and then using the assignment operator to equivicate them. This is not
possible in all languages though, so just keep the terminology under your belt.

Type
When an object is created, a reference to the object is also created. The object can not be accessed
directly in Java, only through this object reference. This object reference has a Type assigned to
it. We need this Type when passing the object reference to a method as a parameter. Java does
strong Type checking.

Type is basically a list of features/operations, that can be performed through that object reference.
The object reference Type basically is a contract that guarantees that those operations will be
there at run time.

When a car is created, it comes with a list of features/operations listed in the user manual that
guarantees that those will be there when the car is used.

When you create an object from a class by default its Type is the same as its class. It means that
all the features/operations the class defined are there and available, and can be used. See below:

(new ClassName()).operations();

You can assign this to a variable having the same Type as the class:

ClassName objRefVariable = new ClassName();

objRefVariable.operations();

You can assign the created object reference to the class super class, or to an interface the class
implements:

SuperClass objectRef = new ClassName(); // features/operations list are defined by the

SuperClass class
..
Interface inter = new ClassName(); // features/operations list are defined by the
interface

In the car analogy, the created car may have different Type of drivers. We create separate user
manuals for them, Average user manual, Power user manual, Child user manual, or Handicaped
user manaul. Each type of user manual describes only those feathers/operations appropriate for
the type of driver. The Power driver may have additional gears to swith to higher speeds, that are
not available to other type of users...

When the car key is passed from an adault to a child we replacing the user manuals, that is called
Type Casting.

In java:

ƒ up casting: going up in the inheritence tree, until we reach the Object

ƒ up casting: to an interface the class implements
ƒ down casting: until we reach the class the object was created from

Type and Type Casting will be covered in more details later at ‘Types’ module.
 Packages
Java Package / Name Space

Usually a Java application is built by many developers and it is common that third party
modules/classes are integrated . The end product can easily contain hundreds of classes. Class
name collision is likely to happen. To avoid this a Java class can be put in a “name space”. This
“name space” in Java is called the package.

The Java package needs to be unique across Vendors to avoid name collisions. For that reason
Vendors usually use their domain name in reverse order. That is guaranteed to be unique. For
example a company called ‘Your Company Inc.’, would use a package name something like this:
com.yourcompany.yourapplicationname.yourmodule.YourClass.

To put a class in a package, the package keyword is used at the top of each class file. For
Example,

package com.yourcompany.yourapplication.yourmodule;

When we want to reference a Java class that is defined outside of the current package, “name
space”, then we have to specify which pacake,name space that class at. So we could reference
that class something like this: com.yourcompany.yourapplication.yourmodule.YourClass . To
avoid to type in the package name each time when we want to reference an outside class, we can
declare which package the class belongs by using the import Java keyword at the top of the file.
For Example,

import com.yourcompany.yourapplication.yourmodule.YourClass;

Then we can refer to that class by just using the class name : YourClass .

In rare cases it can happen that you need to reference two classes having the same name in
different packages. In those cases you can not use the import keyword for both classes. One of
them needs to be referenced by typing in the whole package name. For Example,

package com.mycompany.myapplication.mymodule;
...
import com.yourcompany.yourapplication.youmodule.SameClassName;
...
SameClassName yourObjectRef = new SameClassName();
com.hercompany.herapplication.hermodule.SameClassName herObjectRef = new
com.hercompany.herapplication.hermodule.SameClassName();
The Java package has one more interesting characteristics; the package name corresponds where
the actual file is stored on the file system. And that is actually how the compiler and the class
loader find the Java files on the file system. For example, the class
com.yourcompany.yourapplication.yourmodule.YourClass, is stored on the file system in the
corresponding directory : com/yourcompany/yourapplication/yourmodule/YourClass. Because of
this package names should be lower case, since in some operating systems the directory names
are not case sensitive.
 Nested Classes
In Java you can define a class inside an other class.

A class can be nested:

ƒ inside an other class,

ƒ or inside a method

Nest a class inside a class

When a class is created inside an other class, the nested class’s access modifier can be public,
private, or package(default).

public class OuterClass

{
private String outerInstanceVar;
public class InnerClass
{
public printVars()
{
System.out.println( “Print Outer Class Instance Var.:” + outerInstanceVar;
}
}

The inner class has the access of the outer class instance variable, even private, as seen above.
This makes it very different from the nested class in C++, where nesting is simple a name-hidding
mechanism.

The created inner object has the reference of the outer object. The nested object can only be
created through the ‘outer’ object. See below.

public void testInner()

{
...
OuterClass outer = new OuterClass();
InnerClass inner = outer.new InnerClass();
...
}

Nest a class inside a method

The inner class can not have access modifier, since the class is ‘private’ to the method. The inner
class can be ony abstract or final.
public class OuterClass
{
public void method()
{
class InnerClass
{

}
}
}

Add additional classes to a Java file

A Java file can have one and only one public Java class. But the file can contain additional non-
public classes.

public class OuterClass

{
...
}
class AdditionalClass
{
...
}

The ‘AditionalClass’ can be accessed only in the same package.

Anonymous Classes
In Java a class defination and its instantiation can be combined into a single step. By doing that
the class does not require to have a name. Those classes are called anonymous classes. An
anonymous class can be defined and instantiated in contexts where a reference can be used, and it
is a nested class to an existing class.

Anonymous classes are most useful to subclass and upcast to an ‘Adapter Class’ or to an
interface.
 Access Modifiers
Access modifiers
You surely would have noticed by now, the words public, protected and private at the
beginning of class declarations used in this book. These keywords are called the access modifiers
in the Java language syntax, and can be defined as...

.. keywords that help set the visibility and accessibility of a class, its member
variables, and methods.

The following table shows what Access Modifiers are appropriate for classes, nested classes,
member variables, and methods:

Interface
Nested Member
Class Method Interface method
class variable
signature

visible visible
same as its same as its same as its visible from
public from from
class class class anywhere
anywhere anywhere

its class its class its class

protected N/A and its and its and its N/A N/A
subclass subclass subclass

only from only from

package only from only from only from N/A, default
its its
(default) its package its package its package is public
package package

only from only from only from

private N/A N/A N/A
its class its class its class

Points to ponder
Note that Inteface method visibility is public by default. You do not need to specify the
access modifier it will default to public. For clarity it is considered a good practise to
put the public keyword.
The same way all member variables defined in the Interface by default will become
static final once inherited in a class.

If a class has public visibility, the class can be referenced by anywhere in the program. If a class
has package visibility, the class can be referenced only in the package where the class is defined.
If a class has private visibility, (it can happen only if the class is defined nested in an other class)
the class can be accessed only in the outer class.

If a variable is defined in a public class and it has public visibility, the variable can be reference
anywhere in the application througth the class it is defined in. If a variable has package visibility,
the variable can be referenced only in the same package througth the class it is defined in. If a
variable has private visibility, the variable can be accessed only in the class it is defined in.

If a method is defined in a public class and it has public visibility, the method can be called
anywhere in the application througth the class it is defined in. If a method has package visibility,
the method can be called only in the same package througth the class it is defined in. If a method
has private visibility, the method can be called only in the class it is d
Methods
Method Definition
Method is an operation on a particular object. An object is an instance of a class. When we define
a class we define its member variables and its methods. For each method we need to give a name,
we need to define its input parameters and we need to define its return type. We also need to set
its visibility(private, package, or public). If the method throws an Exception, that needs to be
declared as well. The syntact of defining a method is:

class MyClass
{
...
public ReturnType methodName( ParemOneType param1, ParamTwoType param2 ) throws
ExceptionName
{
ReturnType retType;
...
return retType;
}
...
}

We can declare that the method does not return anything using the void java keyword. For
example:

private void methodName( String param1, String param2 )

{
...
return;
}

When the method return nothing, the return keyword at the end of the method is optional. The
return keyward can be used anywhere in the method, when the executation flow reach the
return keyword, the method execution is stoped and the execution flow returns to the caller
method.

Method Overloading
For the same class we can define two methods with the same name. However the parameter types
and/or the number of parameters must be different for those two methods. In the java
terminology, this is called method overloading. It is useful to use method overloading when we
need to do something different based on a parameter type. For example we may have the
operation : runAroundThe. We can define two methods with the same name, but different input
parameter type:
public void runAroundThe( Building block )
{
...
}
public void runAroundThe( Park park )
{
...
}

Related terminology is the method signature. In java the method signature contains method
name and the input parameter types. The java compiler takes the signature for each method and
makes sure that each method signature is unique for a class. For example the following two
method defininations are valid:

public void logIt( String param, Error err )

{
...
}
public void logIt( Error err, String param )
{
...
}

Because the type order is different. If both input parameters were type String, that would be a
problem again since the compiler would not be able to distinguish between the two:

public void logIt( String param, String err )

{
...
}
public void logIt( String err, String param )
{
...
}

The compiler would give and error for the following method definations as well:

public void logIt( String param )

{
...
}
public String logIt( String param )
{
String retType;
...
return retValue;
}
Note, the return type is not part of the unique signature. Why not? The reason is that a method
can be called without assigning its return value to a variable. This feature came from C and C++.
So for the call:

{
logIt( msg );
}

the compiler would not know which method to call.

Method Overriding
Obviously a method signature has to be unique inside a class. The same method signature can be
defined in different classes. If we define a method that exsist in the super class then we override
the super class method. The terminology for this is method overriding. This is different from
method overloading. Method overloading happens with methods with the same name different
signature. Method overriding happens with same name, same signature between inhereted classes.

The return type can cause the same problem we saw above. When we override a super class
method the return type also must be the same. In fact if that is not the same, the compiler will
give you an error.

Method overriding is related dynamic linking, or runtime binding. In order to the Method
Overriding to work, the method call that is going to be called can not determined at compilation
time. It will be decided at runtime, and will be looked up in a table.

{
1 MyClass obj = new SubOfMyClass();
2
3 MyClass obj = new MyClass();
4
5 obj.myMethod(); // -- During compilation, it is not known what reference the ‘obj’
has, MyClass or SubOfMyClass
}

In the above example ‘obj’ reference has the type MyClass on both line 1 amd line 3. However
the ‘obj’ reference points two different objects. On line 1 it references SubOfMyClass object, on
line 3 it references MyClass object. So on line 5 which method will be called, method define in
MyClass, or the method that defined in its subclasses. Because the ‘obj’ reference can point to
object and all its sub object, and that will be known only at runtime, a table needs to be kept with
all the possible method address to be called.

Also an other rule is that when you do an override, the visibility of the new method that overrides
the super class method can not be reduced. The visisbility can increased, however. So if the super
class method visibility is public, the override method can not be package, or private.

In the case of the exception the override method may throw can be the same as the super calss or
it can be one of that exception inhereted class. So the common rule is that the override method
must be throw the same exception or its any of its subclasses.

NOTE: Common mistake to think that as we can override methods, we should be overrired
member variables. This is not the case however. Member variables are not overriden.

{
1 MyClass obj = new SubOfMyClass();
2
3 MyClass obj = new MyClass();
4
5 String var = obj.myMemberVar; // -- The myMemberVar is defined in the MyClass object
}

In the above example, it does not count what object the ‘obj’ reference point at, because it was
declared MyClass type on both line 1 and line 3, the variable in the MyClass object will be
referenced. In real file we rarely use public variables, but if you do keep in mind that variable can
not be overriden. I wonder if that can be done in C++ or not. <If someone knows could add it
here>

Parameter Passing
We can pass in all the primitive data types or any object references to a method. An object cannot
be passed to a method, only its references. All parameters (those are primitive types and object
references) are passed by value. In other words if you change the passed in parameter values
inside the method, that will have no effect on the original variable that was passed in. When you
pass in an object reference to a method and then you change that inside the method, that will have
no effect on the original object reference. However if you modify the object itself, that will stay
after the method returns. Think about the object reference as a pointer to an object. If you change
the object the reference points at, that will be permanent. For example:

1 {
2 int var1 = 10;
3 int var2 = 20;
4 ...
5 myMethod( var1, var2 );
6 ...
7 System.out.println( “var1=”+var1 +”var2=”var2 ); // -- The variable values did not
change
8 }
9 ...
10 void myMethod( int var1, int var2 )
11 {
12 ...
13 var1 = 0;
14 var2 = 0;

15 ...

16 }

On line 7 the value of var1 is 10 and the value of var2 is 20. When the variables were passed in to
the methods their values were copied. This is called passing the paramater by value. In java we do
not represent an object directly, we represent an object throught an object reference. You can
think of an object reference as a variable having the address of the object. So the object reference
passed in by value, but the object itself is not. For example:

1 {
2 MyObjOne obj = new MyObjOne();
3 obj.setName(“Christin”);
4 ...
5 myMethod( obj );
6 String name = obj.getName(); // --- The name attribute was changed to ‘Susan’ inside
the method
7 }
8 void myMethod( MyObjOne obj )
9 {
10 obj.setName(“Susan”);
11 ...
12 obj = new MyObjOne();
13 obj.setName(“Sonya”);
14 ...
15 }

On line 2, we created an object, on line 3 we set its name property to ‘Christin’. On line 5 we
called the myMethod( obj ). Inside the method, we changed the name to ‘Susan’ through the
passed in object reference. So that change will stay. Note however that after we reassigned the obj
reference to a new object, that is no effect whatsoever on the passed in object.

Return Parameter
A method may or may not return a value. If the method does not return a value we use the void
java keyword. Same as the parameter passing, the method can return a primitive type or an object
references. So a method can return only one value. What if you want to return more than one
value from a method. You can always pass in an object reference to the method, and let the
method modify the object properties. The modified values can be considered as an output value
from the method. However better option, and cleaner if you create an Object array inside the
method, assign the return values and return the array to the caller. You could have a problem
however, if you want to mix primitive data types and object references as the output values from
the method. There is a better approach. Define s special return object with the needed return
values. Create that object inside the method, assign the values and return the reference to this
object. This special object is “bound” to this method and used only for returning values, so do not
use a public class. The best way is to use a nested class, see example below:
public class MyObject

...

/** Nested object is for return values from ‘getPersonInfoById’ method */

public static class ReturnObj
{
private int age;
private String name;

public void setAge( int val )

{
this.age = val;
}
public int getAge()
{
return age;
}

public void setName( String val )

{
name = val;
}
public String getName()
{
return name;
}
} // --- End of nested class defination ---
/** Method using the nested class to return values */
public ReturnObj getPersonInfoById( int ID )
{
int age;
String name;
...
// --- Get the name and age based on the ID from the database ---
...
ReturnObj ret = new ReturnObj();
ret.setAge( age );
ret.setName( name );

return ret;
}
}

In the above example the ‘getPersonInfoById’ method returns an object reference that contains
both values the name and age. See below how you may use that object:

{
...
MyObject obj = new MyObject();
MyObject.ReturnObj person = obj.getPersonInfoById( 102 );
System.out.println( “Person Name=” + person.getName() );
System.out.println( “Person Age =” + person.getAge() );
...
}
 Special method, the Constructor
There is a special method for each class that will be executed each time an object is created from
that class. That is the Constructor . Constructor does not have a return value and its name is the
same as the class name. The Constructor can be overloaded; you can define more than one
constructor with different parameters. For example:

public class MyClass

{
private String memberVar;
/**
• MyClass Constructor, there is no input parameter
*/
public MyClass()
{
...
}
/**
• MyClass Constructor, there is one input parameter
*/
public MyClass( String param1 )
{
memberVar = param1;
...
}
}

In the above example we defined two constructors, one with no input parameter, and one with one
input parameter. You may ask which constructor will be called. Its depends how the object is
created with the new keyword. See below:

{
...
MyClass obj1 = new MyClass(); // The constructor with no input parameter
will be called
MyClass obj2 = new MyClass(“Init Value”); // The constructor with one input param. will
be called
...
}

In the above example we created two objects from the same class, or we can also say that obj1
and obj2 both have the same type. The difference between the two is that in the first one the
memberVar field is not initialized, in the second one that is initialized to ‘Init Value’. obj1, and
obj2 contains the reference to the object. Each class must have a constructor. If we do not define
one, the compiler will create a default so called empty constructor automatically.

public class MyClass

{
/**
• MyClass Empty Constructor
*/
public MyClass()
 {
}

The Constructor is called automatically when an object is created with the new keyword. A
constructor may also be called from an other constructor, see bellow:

public class MyClass

{
private Strig memberVar;
/**
• MyClass Constructor, there is no input parameter
*/
public MyClass()
{
MyClass(“Default Value”);
}
/**
• MyClass Constructor, there is one input parameter
*/
public MyClass( String param1 )
{
memberVar = param1;
...
}
}

In the above example, the constructor with no input parameter calls the other constructor with the
default initial value. This gives an option to the user, to create the object with the default value or
create the object with a specified value.

Static Method
We defined method above as an operation on an object. Static Methods are defined inside a class,
but they are not an operation on an object. No object needs to be created to execute a Static
Method, they are simply global functions, with input parameters and a return value.

public class MyObject

{
static public String myStaticMethod()
{
...
return(“I am a Static Method”);
}

Static Methods can be referenced anywhere prefixed by the class name. See below:
{
...
// --- Call myStaticMethod ---

System.out.println( “Output from the myStaticMethod:” + MyObject.myStaticMethod() );

...
}

You can write a non object oriented program by using only Static Methods in java. Because java
evolved from theC programming language, Static Method is a left over from a non object oriented
language.

You write Static Method the same way as normal method, the only difference is that you can not
reference any member variables and any object methods. Static Methods can reference only Static
variables and call only other Static Methods. However you can create an object an use it inside a
Static Method.

public class MyObject

{
public String memberVar;
static private String memberStaticVar;
static public String myStaticMethod()
{
memberVar = “Value”; --> ERROR Cannot reference member var.
memberStaticVar = “Value”; // --- This is okay, static vars. can be used
// --- Create an object ---
MyObject obj = new MyObject();
obj.memberVar = “Value”; // --- This is okay since an object is created—
...
return(“I am a Static Method”);
}
}
 Primitive Types
Primitive Types
The Java primitive types contain pure values, no operations. It is basically data types similar what
other non-object-oriented languages have.

Arrays can be defined using Java primitive types, but because they are not objects, they can not
be put in a collection.

For this reason object wrappers are defined in JDK ‘java.lang.*’ package for all the primitive
types.

Size Minimum Maximum Wrapper

Example
(bits) Value Value Objects

char 16 char c = ‘A’; Unicode 0 Unicode 216-1 Character

short 16 short s = 65; -215 215-1 Short

int 32 int i = 65; -231 231-1 Integer

long 64 long l = 65l; -263 263-1 Long

float 32 float f = 65f; Float

double 64
double d =
Double
65.55d;

byte 8 byte b = 65; -128 127 Byte

boolean 1
boolean b =
Boolean
true;
 void -- -- -- -- Void

The numeric types like short, int, long, float, and double are used in arithmetic operations.

The character types like char, and byte are used in file input output operations.

Representing literal character strings, however, the String object is defined, in the java.lang.*
package. The java.lang.String is not a primive type, rather it is a special object built into the Java
language. For further info. see String.

Data Conversion (Casting)

Data conversion (casting) can happen between two primitive types. There are two kinds:

ƒ Implicit : casting operation is not required; no data precision is lost due to the
conversion
ƒ Explicit : casting operation required; data precision may be lost due to the
conversion

Example for implicit casting:

int i = 65;
long l = i; // --- int is converted to long, casting is not needed

Example for explicit casting:

long l = 656666l;
int i = (int) l; // --- long is converted to int, casting is needed

The following table shows the conversions between primitive types, it shows the casting
operation for explicit conversions:

from from from from from from from from

char short int long float double byte boolean

to char - (char) (char) (char) (char) (char) N/A

to short (short) - (short) (short) (short) (short) N/A

to int - (int) (int) (int) N/A

to long - (long) (long) N/A

to float - (float) N/A

to - N/A
double

to byte (byte) (byte) (byte) (byte) (byte) (byte) - N/A

to N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A -

boolean

Autoboxing/unboxing
Autoboxing/unboxing
Autoboxing and unboxing, language features since Java 1.5, make the programmer’s
life much easier when it comes to working with the primitive wrapper types. Consider
this code fragment:

int age = 23;

Integer ageObject = new Integer(age);

Primitive wrapper objects were Java’s way of allowing one to treat primitive data types as though
they were objects. Consequently, one was expected to ‘wrap’ one’s primitive data type with the
corresponding primitive wrapper object, as shown above.

Autoboxing
Since Java 1.5, one may write as below and the compiler will automatically create the
wrap object. The extra step of wrapping the primitive is no longer required. It has
been ‘automatically boxed up’ on your behalf.
Points to ponder
Keep in mind that the compiler still creates the missing wrapper code, so one doesn’t
really gain anything performance-wise. Consider this feature a programmer convenience,
not a performance booster.

int age = 23;

Integer ageObject = age;

Unboxing
Uses the same process in reverse. Study the following code for a moment. The if
statement requires a boolean primitive value, yet it was given a Boolean wrapper
object. No problem! Java 1.5 will automatically ‘unbox’ this.

Boolean canMove = new Boolean(true);

if ( canMove )
{
System.out.println( “This code is legal in Java 1.5” );
}

ƒ Keywords
 java.lang.String
java.lang.String
String is a special class built into the Java language defined in the java.lang.* package.

The String class represents character strings. String literals in Java programs, such as “abc”, are
implemented as instances of this class. Strings are constant; their values cannot be changed after
they are created.

For Example:

String str = “This is string literal”;

On the right hands side a String object is created representing the string literal and its object
reference is assigned to the str variable.

The Java language provides special support for the string concatenation operator ( + ), and for
conversion of other objects to strings. For example:

String str = “First part” + “ second part”;

// --- Is the same as:
String str = “First part second part”;

Integers will also be converted to String after the ( + ) operator:

String str = “Age=” + 25;

Each Java object has the String toString() inherited from the Object class. So it cen be
over ridden to convert the object to String.

The String class provides a nice set of methods for string manipulation. Since String objects
are immutable (constants), all methods return a new String object. For example:

name = name.trim();

The trim() method returns a copy of the string with leading and trailing whitespace removed.
Note that the following would do nothing useful:
name.trim(); // wrong!

This would create a new trimmed string and then throw it away. Study the String class and its
methods carefully. Strings are ubiquitous in Java; it will serve you well to know how to
manipulate them skillfully.

Use StringBuffer/StringBuilder to concatenate Strings

Because the String object is immutable (cannot be changed), any operation on a String, a new
String object is created, and the old one becomes eligible for garbage collection. The following
code should not be used:

public String convertToString( Collection coll )

{
String sRet = “”;
Iterator iter = coll.iterator();
while ( iter.hasNext() )
{
String oneElem = (String) iter.next();
sRet = sRet + oneElem + “\n”;
}
return sRet;
}

On the ( + ) operation a new String object is created at each iteration. Do not use it. Instead use
Template:Java:StringBuffer, see below, only one StringBuffer object is created:

public String convertToString( Collection coll )

{
String sRet = “”;
StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer();
Iterator iter = coll.iterator();
while ( iter.hasNext() )
{
String oneElem = (String) iter.next();
buf.append( oneElem );
buf.append( “\n” );
}
sRet = buf.toString();
return sRet;
}

Since Java 1.5, a new StringBuilder class was introduced. Performancewise StringBuilder class
is preferable, however it is not thread safe. So if only one thread is accessing your StringBuffer
object and performance may be an issue, consider to switch to StringBuilder.

Compare Strings
Compare two strings: Comparing strings is not as easy as it may first seem. We cannot just use
a simple equality statement such as:

if(myString == “Hello World!”)

{
System.out.println(“Match Found”);
}

We must instead use a method built into java.String class itself, the compareTo() method, which
can be accessed wherever we use a String datatype. Lets take a look at an example:

String myString = “Hello World!”;

...
if(myString.compareTo(“Hello World!”) == 0 )
{
System.out.println(“Match Found”);
}

This snippet of code is comparing the String variable myString to “Hello World”. If the two
strings match exactly the toString method will return “0”, i.e. that there is no variance between
the two strings, and the statement body will run. However if myString was to be different, even in
the slightest manner we will get a value above or below 0 depending on the exact difference. The
result is a negative integer if this String object lexicographically precedes the argument string.
The result is a positive integer if this String object lexicographically follows the argument string.
Take a look at the Java API for more details.

To compare for exact match the equals() method can also be used.

String myString = “Hello World!”;

...
if(myString.equals(“Hello World!”) == true)
{
System.out.println(“Match Found”);
}

Splitting a String object based on a token

Sometimes it is useful to split a string into separate strings, based on a ‘regular expression’. The
String class has a split() method, since Java 1.4, that will return a String array.

See the following example:

String person = “John:Brows:100 Yonge Street, Toronto:(416)777-9999”;
...
String [] personData = person.split( “:” );

...

String name = personData[0];

String address = personData;
String phone = personData;

An other usefull application could be to ‘split’ the String text based on the ‘new line’ character,
so you could process the text line by line.

Creating Substrings
It may also be sometimes useful to create substrings, or strings using the order of letters from an
existing string. This can be done in two methods.

The first method involves creating a substring out of the characters of a string from a given index
to the end.

For example:

String str = “coffee”;

String substr = str.substring(3);

In this example, substr would return “fee”. As previously discussed, the index of the first
character in a string is 0. By counting from there, it is apparent that the character in index 3 is the
second “f” in “coffee”. This is known as the beginIndex. All characters from the beginIndex
until the end of the string will be copied into the new substring.

The second method involves a user-defined beginIndex and endIndex. For example:

String str = “supporting”;

String substr = str.substring(3,7);

The string returned by substr would be “port”. Please note that the endIndex is not inclusive.
This means that the last character will be of the index endIndex-1. Therefore, in this example,
every character from index 3 to index 6, inclusive, was copied into the substring.

Note: “Substring” is considered to be one word. This is why the method name does not seem to
follow the common syntax of Java. It is easy to mistake the method substr() for subStr()
(which does not exist and would return with a syntax error on compilation). Just remember that
this style only applies to methods or other elements that are made up of more than one word.
Modifying String cases
The String Class also allows for the modification of cases. The two methods that make this
possible are toLowerCase() and toUpperCase(). These methods are useful, for example, in
the typical programming classroom assignment of evaluating whether or not a string is a
palindrome.

String a = “YAHOOS”;
String b = “google”;

In this example, a call to a.toLowerCase() would return a result of “yahoos”, and

b.toUpperCase() would return “GOOGLE”.
 Arrays
Intro to Arrays
An array is similar to a table of data, keyed by number. In Java an array is an object like all other
objects. Look at the following program:

import java.io.*;
public class ArrayExample {
static BufferedReader kbRead = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
System.in));
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
int numNames = getInt(“Number of names? “);
String[] names = new String[numNames];
for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++) {
names[i] = getString(“Enter name #” + i);
}

for (int i = 0; i < names.length; ++i) {

System.out.println(names[i]);
}
}

public static int getInt(String prompt) throws IOException {

System.out.print(prompt + “ “);
return Integer.parseInt(kbRead.readLine());
}

public static String getString(String prompt) throws IOException {

System.out.print(prompt + “ “);
return kbRead.readLine();
}
}

Copy the code and compile it. The program will ask you to enter some names then reprints the
names in order. It demonstrates three major aspects of arrays: how to define an array, how to set
data, and how to access it. The code String[] names = new String[numNames]; tells
Java to create an array of size numNames that will store Strings. To set data, use names[x] =
data where x is the index to access. Note that all Java arrays start at 0 and go to array size - 1.
Thus, if you dimension an array to size 10, the highest index is 9.

Array Fundamentals
ƒ To create an array, use the syntax DataType[] variable = new
DataType[ArraySize]. Alternatively, if you know the data beforehand, you can
write DataType[] variable = {item 1, item 2,...item n}
ƒ To access an item, use the syntax variable[i] where i is the index
ƒ To set an item, use the syntax variable[i] = data
ƒ To find the length of an array, use the syntax variable.length

Two-Dimensional Arrays
Two dimensional array is represented by array of an array. Beacuse an array is also an object like
any other object having the Object as the super class, it can be used to create an array where the
element of the array are also an array. In this way any number of dimensional array can be
created. See below how two create two dimentional arrays with the initializer blocks:

String [][] twoDimArray = { {”00”, “01”, “02”, “03”, “04”},

{”10”, “11”, “12”, “13”, “14”},
{”20”, “21”, “22”, “23”, “23”} };
...
int [][] twoDimIntArray = { {00, 01, 02, 03, 04},
{10, 11, 12, 13, 14},
{20, 21, 22, 23, 24} };

In the above example we defined an array which has three elements, each elements contains an
array having 5 elements. We could create the array having the 5 elements first and use that one in
the initialize block.

String [] oneDimArray = {”00”, “01”, “02”, “03”, “04”};

String [][] twoDimArray = { oneDimArray ,
{”10”, “11”, “12”, “13”, “14”},
{”20”, “21”, “22”, “23”, “24”} };

Multidimensional Array
Going futher any number of dimentional array can be defined.

<elementType>[][]...[] <arrayName>
or
<elementType><arrayName>[][]...[]

ƒ Java Programming ƒ Index

ƒ Getting ƒ Classes and

ƒ Overview ƒ Fundamentals
Started Objects
 ƒ Concurrent
ƒ Collections ƒ Exceptions ƒ Reflection
Programming

ƒ Applets ƒ JavaBeans ƒ Libraries

 Data and Variables
All Data in Java are stored in instance or static variables in an object. There are two kinds of
variables:

ƒ Variables that store Java primitive type values

ƒ Variables that store reference to a Java object
variabletype variablename = data;

For example, to create an int primitive type value, named yr that stores 2006;

int yr = 2006;

To access the data in yr, use the variable in place of the number.

System.out.println(yr);

Produces

2006

The value of yr is passed to the print method by value. It means that the yr variable value can not
be changed inside the print method. All variables in Java are passed to methods by value. The
content of the varaiable will be copied, and actually the copied value is passed to methods. So if
the passed in value changes inside the method, that change will be lost when the method returns.

When the variable contains a reference to an object, the object reference is passed in by value, the
same way as primitive type variables. The value of the object reference can not be changed by the
method, but the object itself can.

The following example shows when a object reference is passed in to a method:

StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer();

buf.append(“Hello World”);
addMethodName( buf );
System.out.println( buf );
...
public void addMethodName( StringBuffer inpBuf )
{
inpBuf.append( “ from method ‘addMethodName’ );
}
The output of the above sample code is:

Hello World from method ‘addMethodName’

Scope
Variables only exist within the structure in which they are defined. For example, if a variable is
created within a method, it cannot be accessed outside the method. In addition, a different method
can create a variable of the same name which will not conflict with the other variable.

Generics
Generics were added to the Java language syntax in version 1.5. This means that code using
Generics will not compile with Java 1.4 and less.

Java was long criticized for the need to explicitly type-cast an element when it was taken out of a
“container/collection” class. There was no way to enforce that a “collection” class contains only
one type of object. This is now possible since Java 1.5.

In the first couple of years of Java evolution, Java did not have a real competitor. This has
changed by the appearance of Microsoft C#. With Generics Java is better suited to compete
against C#. Similar constructs to Java Generics exist in other languages, see w:Generic
programming for more information.

What are Generics?

I don’t know why they named this new feature Generics. A better name would be type
parameter argument. Because, it is basically that, to pass a Type as a parameter to a class at
creation time.

When an object is created, parameters can be passed to the created object, through the
constructor. Now with Generics, we can also pass in Types. The type-place-holders will be
replaced with the specified type, before the object is created.

Type parameter arguments can be set:

for a class
When an object is created from that class the type-parameter-argument will be
replaced with the actual Type.

public class Person<T>

{
private Person<T> person;

...

}
...
// --- Create an Employee person ---
Person<Employee> emplPerson = new Person<Employee>();
...
// --- Create a Customer person ---
Person<Customer> custPerson = new Person<Customer>();

for a method
Just like class declarations, method declarations can be generic—that is,
parameterized by one or more type parameters.

static public <T> void assign( Person<T> person, T obj )

{
person.setPerson( obj );
}

use of “T” is optional

Use of a parameter type is optional. If that is not specified T will be substituted with
the Java Object class, and there will be no Generic Rule checkings.

Introduction
Java is a “strongly” typed language. That’s why it is so easy to use. Many potential problems are
caught by the compiler. One area where Java was criticized was regarding the
“Container/Collection” objects. Container objects are objects that contain other objects. Before
Generics were introduced there was no way to ensure that a container object contains only one
type of objects. When an object was added to a container, it was automatically cast to Java
Object. When it was taken out an explicit cast was needed. Normaly an excplicit cast is checked
by the compiler.

String st = “This is a String”;

...
Integer integer = (Integer) st; // --- Compilation Error—

But in the case of container classes, the compiler was not able to catch an invalid type casting.

1 Collection collString = new ArrayList();

2 collString.add( “This is a String” );
...
3 Integer integer = (Integer) collString.get(0); // --- No Compilation Error; RunTime
CastException
Just looking at line 3, we do not know what type of objects collString contains. If that contains
Integers then the code is fine.

The above code using Generic:

Collection<String> collString = new ArrayList<String>();

collString.add( “This is a String” );
...
Integer integer = (Integer) collString.get(0); // --- Compilation Error

collString is a container object, that can contain only String objects, nothing else, so when we get
out an element it can be casted only to class that normaly a String can be casted.

With Generics, Java strict type checking can be extended to container objects. Using Generics
with container classes, gives an impression that a new container type is created, with each
different type parameter. Before Generics:

Collection collCustomer = new ArrayList();

collCustomer.add( new Customer() );
...
Collection collObject = collCustomer; // --- No problem, both collObject and
collCustomer have the same type

With generics:

Collection<Customer> collCustomer = new ArrayList()<Customer>;

collCustomer.add( new Customer() );
...
Collection<Object> collObject = collCustomer; // --- Compilation Error

Both collObject and collCustomer have the same type, BUT it is against the Generic rule, that
is collCustomer can contain only Customer objects, and collObject can contain only Object
object. So there is an additional check to the normal type checking, the type of the parameter type
has to be matched too.

Note for C++ programmers

Java Generics are similar to C++ Templates in that both were added for the same reason. The
syntax of Java Generic and C++ Template are also similar.

There are some differences however. The C++ template can be seen as a kind of macro, that
generates code before compilation. The generated code depends on how the Template class is
referenced. The amount of code generated depends on how many different types of classes are
created from the Template. C++ Templates do not have any run-time mechanisms. The compiler
creates normal code to substitute the template, similar to any ‘hand-written’ code.
In contrast, Java Generics are built into the language. The same Class object handles all the
Generic type variations. No additional code is generated, no matter how many Generic objects are
created with different type parameters. For example.

Collection<String> collString = new ArrayList<String>();

Collection<Integer> collInteger = new ArrayList<Integer>();

There is only one Class object created. The Class class itself is generic since Java 1.5.

public final class Class<T> extends Object

implements Serializable, GenericDeclaration, Type, AnnotatedElement
{
...
}

The T type here represents the type that is handed to the Class object. The T type will be
substituted with the class being loaded.

Class<T>
Since Java 1.5, the class java.lang.Class is generic. It is an interesting example of using genericity
for something other than a container class.

For example, the type of String.class is Class<String>, and the type of Serializable.class is
Class<Serializable>. This can be used to improve the type safety of your reflection code.

In particular, since the newInstance() method in Class now returns a T, you can get more
precise types when creating objects reflectively.

Now we can use the newInstance() method to return a new object with exact type,
without casting.

Customer cust = Utility.createAnyObject( Customer.class ); // - No casting

...
public static <T> T createAnyObject( Class<T> cls )
{
T ret = null;
try {
ret = cls.newInstance();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
// --- Exception Handling
}
return ret;
}
And the above code without Generics:

Customer cust = (Customer) Utility.createAnyObject( Customer.class ); // - Casting is

needed
...
public static Object createAnyObject( Class cls )
{
Object ret = null;
try {
ret = cls.newInstance();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
// --- Exception Handling
}
return ret;
}

Get exact type when getting JavaBean property, using reflection

See the following code where the method will return the exact type of the Java Bean
property, based on how it will be called.

// --- Using reflection, get a Java Bean property by its name ---
public static <T> T getProperty(Object bean, String propertyName)
{
if (bean == null ||
propertyName == null ||
propertyName.length() < 1)
{
return null;
}
// --- Based on the property name build the getter method name ---
String methodName = “get” +
propertyName.substring(0,1).toUpperCase() +
propertyName.substring(1);
T property = null;
try {
java.lang.Class c = bean.getClass();
java.lang.reflect.Method m = c.getMethod(methodName, null);
property = (T) m.invoke(bean, null);
} catch (Exception e) {
// --- Handle exception—
}
return property;
}

Wildcard Types
As we have seen above, generics give the impression that a new container type is created with
each different type parameter. We have also seen that in addition to the normal type checking, the
type parameter has to match as well when we assign generics variables.
In some cases this is too restrictive. What if we would like to relex this additional checking?
What if we would like to define a collection variable that can hold any generic collection,
regardless of the parameter type it holds?

Wildcard
The wildcard type is represented by the character <?>, and pronounced Unknown, or
Any-Type. This Unknown type matches anything, if it is used only by itself. Any-
Type can be express also by <? extends Object>. Any-Type includes Interfaces,
not only Classes.

So now we can define a collection whose element type matches anything. See below:

Collection<?> collUnknown;

Note that we can not add anything to this collection. We can only take out elements of type
Object from it. So what is the use of this variable if we can not add anything to the collection it
represents? The use of this new construct will be clear when you want to create a generic method
that takes any collection.

public static void printElements( Collection<?> anycoll )

{
Iterator<?> iter = coll.iterator();
while ( iter.hasNext() )
{
System.out.print( iter.next() );
}
}

Wildcard for a specific type of classes

“<? extends ClassName>” specifies a restriction on the types of classes that may used.

For example, to create a collection that may only contain “Serializable” objects, specify:

Collection<? extends Serializable> serColl = new ArrayList<String>();

The above code is valid because, the String class is serializable. Use of a class that is not
serializable would cause a compilation error.

The following collection can only contain objects that extend the class Animal.

class Dog extends Animal

{
...
}
...

// --- Create “Animal Collection” variable ---

Collection<? extends Animal> animalColl = new ArrayList<Dog>();

 Defining Classes
Fundamentals
Every class in Java can be composed of the following elements

ƒ fields - Fields hold data specific to each object. For example, an employee might
have an ID number. (It is also sometime called member variables)
ƒ member methods - Member methods perform operations on an object. For
example, an employee might have a method to issue his paycheck or to access his
name.
ƒ static fields - Static fields are common to any object of the same class. For
example, a static field within the Employee class could keep track of the last ID
number issued.
ƒ static methods - Static methods are methods that do not affect a specific object.
ƒ other classes - Sometimes it is useful to contain a class within another one if it is
useless outside of the class or should not be accessed outside the class.
ƒ Constructors - A special method that generates a new object.
ƒ Parameterized types - Since 1.5, ‘parameterized types’ can be assigned to a class
during definination. The ‘parameterized types’ will be substituted with the types
specified at the class’s instantiation. It is done by the compiler. It is simular the C
language macro ‘#define’ statement, where a pre-processor evaluate the ‘macros.

public class Employee // This defines the Employee class.

{ // The public modifier indicates that
// it can be accessed by any other class

private static int nextID;

private int myID; // Define data that will be stored
private String myName; // for each Employee.

public Employee(String name) // Constructor

{
myName = name;
myID = nextID; // Automatically assign an ID
nextID++; // Increment the ID counter
}

public String getName()

{
return myName;
}

public int getID()

{
return myID;
}

public static int getNextID()

{
return nextID;
 }

The following Java code

System.out.println(Employee.getNextID();
Employee a = new Employee(“John Doe”);
Employee b = new Employee(“Jane Smith”);
Employee c = new Employee(“Sally Brown”);

System.out.println(Employee.getNextID();
System.out.println(a.getID() + “: “ + a.getName());
System.out.println(b.getID() + “: “ + b.getName());
System.out.println(c.getID() + “: “ + c.getName());

would produce this output

0
3
0: John Doe
1: Jane Smith
2: Sally Brown

General Concepts
Abstraction

A class holds information about an entity in a complete system. Programmers produce code that
is inspired by the world around them. Extracting information from the world around them and
replicating the environment in a computer system is called Abstraction.

public class Animal

{
public Animal()
{
}
}
 ƒ Java Programming ƒ Index

ƒ Getting ƒ Classes and

ƒ Overview ƒ Fundamentals
Started Objects

ƒ Concurrent
ƒ Collections ƒ Exceptions ƒ Reflection
Programming

ƒ Applets ƒ JavaBeans ƒ Libraries

Creating Objects
Introduction
All the objects in java programs are created on heap memory (with the exception of primitive data
types). An object is created based on its class. You can consider a class as a blueprint, template,
or a description how to create an object. When an object is created, memory is allocated to hold
the object properties. An object reference pointing to that memory location also created. To use
the object in the future, that object reference has to be stored as a local variable or as an object
member variable.

The Java Virtual Machine (JVM), keeps track of the usage of object references. If there are no
more reference to the object, the object can not be used any more and becomes garbage. After a
while the heap memory will be full of unused objects. The JVM collects those garbage objects
and frees the memory they allocated, so the memory can be reused again when a new object is
created. See below a simple example:

{
// --- Create an object ---
MyObject obj = new MyObject();

// --- Use the object ---

obj.printMyValues();
}

The obj contains the object reference pointing to an object created from the MyObject class. The
obj object reference is in scope inside the { ). After the } the object becomes garbage. Object
references can be passed in to methods, object references can be returned from methods.

Creating object with the new keyword

99% of new objects are created using the new keyword.

{
// --- Create an ‘MyObject’ for the first time the application started—
MyObject obj = new MyObject();
}

When an object from the MyObject class is created for the first time. The JVM searches the file
system for the definition of the class. The CLASSPATH environment variable contains locations
where Java classes are stored. The JVM is looking for the ‘MyObject.class’ file. Depending on
which package the class belongs to, the package name will be translated to a directory path.
When the ‘MyObject.class’ file is found, the JVM’s class loader loads the class in memory. The
JVM stores the code in memory, allocates memory for the static variables, and executes any
static initialize block. Memory is not allocated for the object member variables at this point,
memory will be allocated for them when an instance of the class, an object, is created.

There is no limit on how many objects from the same class can be created. Code and static
variables are stored only once, no matter how many objects are created. Memory is allocated for
the object member variables when the object is created. Thus, the size of an object is determined
not by its code’s size but by the memory it needs for its member variables to be stored.

Creating object by cloning an object

Cloning is not automatically available to classes. There is some help though, as all Java objects
inherit the protected Object clone() method. This base method would allocate the
memory and do the bit by bit copying of the object’s states.

You may ask why we need this clone method. Couldn’t I create a constructor and just passing in
the same object, and do the copying variable by variable? Lets see:

public class MyObject

{
private memberVar;
...
MyObject( MyObject obj )
{
this.memberVar = obj.getMemberVar;
...
}
...
}

There are two problems with the above code:

ƒ firstly, the private variables can not be assigned directly. To do that you need
setters and getters, which requires extra code.
ƒ secondly, and more importantly, performance. The clone() method copies the
whole object’s memory in one operation. This is much faster than using the new
keyword.

Object creation with the new keyword is expensive, so if you need to create lots of object with the
same type, performance will be better if you create one object and clone new ones from it. See
below a factory method that will return a new object using cloneing.

HashTable _cacheTemplate = new HashTable;

...
/** Clone Customer object for performance reason */
public Customer createCustomerObject()
{
// --- See if a template object exists in our cashe ---

Customer template = _cacheTemplate.get( “Customer” );

if ( template == null )
{
// --- Create template ---
template = new Customer();
_cacheTemplate.put( “Customer”, template );
}
return template.clone();
}

Now, lets see how to make the Customer object cloneable.

ƒ First the Customer class needs to implement the Cloneable Interface.

ƒ Override and make the clone() method public, as that is protected in the
Object class.
ƒ Call the super.clone()method at the beginning of your clone method.
ƒ Override the clone() method in all the subclasses of Customer.

public class Customer implements Cloneable

{
...
public Object clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException
{
Object obj = super.clone();
return obj;
}
}

In the above example we used cloning for speed up object creation.

An other use of cloning could be to take a snapshot of an object that can change in time. Lets say
we want to store Customer objects in a collection, but we want to disassociate them from the
‘live’ objects . So before adding the object, we clone them, so if the original object changes from
that point forward, the added object won’t. Also lets say that the Customer object has a reference
to an Activity object that contains the customer activities. Now we are facing a promplem, it is
not enough to clone the Customer object, we also need to clone the referenced objects. The
solution:

ƒ Make the Activity class also cloneable

ƒ Make sure that if the Activity class has other ‘changeable’ object references, those
has to be cloned as well, as seen below
ƒ Change the Customer class clone() method as followes:

public class Customer implements Cloneable

{
Activity _activity;
...
public Customer clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException
{
Customer clonedCustomer = (Customer) super.clone();
// -- Clone the object referenced objects ---
if ( _activity != null )
{

clonedCustomer.setActivity( (Activity) _activity.clone() );

}
return clonedCustomer;
}
}

Note that only mutable objects needs to be cloned. Object like String that can not change, the
same object reference can be used in the cloned object.

Creating object receiving from a remote source

When an object is sent through a network, the object needs to be recreated at the receiving host.

Object Serialization
The term Object Serialization refers to the act of converting the object to a byte
stream. The byte stream can be stored on the file system, or can be sent throught a
network.
At the later time the object can be re-created from that stream of bytes. The only
requirement is that the same class has to be available at both times, when the object is
serialized and also when the object is re-created. If that happens in deferent servers,
then the same class must be available on both servers. Same class means that exacly
the same version of the class must be available, otherwise the object won’t be able to
be re-created. This is a maintenance problem to those applications where java
seroalization is used to persist object or sent the object throught the network.
When a class is modified, there could be a problem re-creating those objects that were
serialized using an earlier version of the class.
Java has built in support for serialization.

Interfaces
Interfaces
Java does not allow you to create a subclass from two classes. There is no multiple inheritance.
The major benefit of that is that all java objects can have a common ancestor. That class called
Object. All java classes can be up-casted to Object. Example:

class MyObject
{
 ...
}

When you type the above code, it actually means the following:

class MyObject extends Object // -- The compiler adds ‘extends Object’. if not
specified
{
...
}

So it can be guaranteed that certain methods are available in all java classes. This makes the
language simpler.

To mimic multiple inheritance, java offers interfaces, which are similar to abstract classes. In
interfaces all methods are abstract by default, without the abstract key word. Interfaces have no
implementation and no variables, but constant values can be defined in interfaces.

public Interface MyInterface

{
public static final String CONSTANT = “This value can not be changed”;
public String methodOne(); // This method must be implemented by class who implements
this interface
{
...
}
}
...
public class MyObject implements MyInterface
{
// --- Implement MyInterface interface
public String methodOne()
{
...
}

}
 Using Static Members
What does static mean?
When you declare a function, object, or variable static you are stating that it is independant of a
perticular object but rather to the entire class.

What does it do?

When you declare a function, object, or variable static you are stating that it is independant of a
particular object but rather to the entire class.

if you want a value to be shared or a method to be shared by all the defined objects of a paticular
class static is used . on a broader way can be considered as data sharing amongst objects of the
same class

Danger of too many static variables

Too many static variables may cause problems when multipule threads are running and accessing
those variables. Note: static final = constant
Types
Types in Java define the allowed data values and the operations that may be performed on those
values. Each expression, field, method parameter, local variable, and method return values, have
an associated type. The syntax template for a field declaration in Java is

[Modifiers] Type FieldName [’=’ Expression];

Method, method parameter, and local variables have similar syntax: optional modifiers, a
required type, and the name of the value being declared.

In java, there are two different kind of Types, those are:

ƒ Primitive Type
ƒ Object Reference Type

About Java Types

Java is strongly typed in that all expressions and declarations have types (either declared or
inferred) and the language only allows programs which adhere to the type constraints. You cannot
write a statement or expression in Java which directly invokes an operation on a value that is not
allowed by that value’s type, nor can you perform assignments that violate the type system: you
cannot assign a String value to an integer typed variable. This helps achieve a high level of type
safety in Java. Most type errors are caught and detected by the Java compiler. However, some
type errors can still occur at runtime because Java supports a cast operation which is a way of
changing the type of one expression to another. However, Java performs run time type checking
when doing such casts, so an incorrect type cast will cause a runtime exception rather than
succeeding silently and allowing data corruption.

Java ia also known as a hybrid language. While supporting object oriented (OO) programming,
Java is not a pure OO language like Smalltalk or Ruby. Instead, Java offers both object types and
primitive types. Primitive types are used for boolean, character, and numeric values and
operations. This allows relative good performance when manipulating numeric data, at the
expense of flexibility. For example, you cannot subclass the primitive types and add new
operations to them.

Examples of Types
Below are two examples of Java types and a brief description of the allowed values and
operations for these types. Additional details on each are available in other modules.

Example: int
The primitive type int represents a signed 32 bit integer value. The allowed data values for int
are the integers between -2147483648 to 2147483647 inclusive.

The set of operations that may be performed on int values includes integer arithmetic such as +,
-, *, /, %, comparison operations (==, !=, <, >, <=, >=), assignments (=, ++, --,
+=, -=), bit-wise operations such as logical and, logical or, logical xor, negation (&, |, ^, ~),
bit shift operations (<<, >>, >>>), conversions to other numeric types and promotion to other
integer types.

For example, to declare a private integer instance field named length, one would use the
declaration

private int length;

Example: String

You use class and interface definition in Java to define new types. Class and interface types
are associated with object references also sometime refered to as Reference types. An object
reference has two main attributes:

ƒ Its type associated with a class or an interface

ƒ A java object it references, that is created by instantiating a class

The String class is one such example. String values are a sequence of 0 or more Unicode
characters. The null reference is another valid value for a String expression.

The operations on a String reference variable are those available for all reference types, such as
comparison operations ==, != and assignment =.

The allowed operations on String object, however are the set of methods in the
java.lang.String class, which includes length(), toString(), toLowerCase(),
toUpperCase(), compareTo(String anotherString) and more... .

In addition, String objects also inherit the set of operations from the base class that String extends
from, which is java.lang.Object. These operations include methods such as equals(),
hashCode(), wait(), notifyAll(), and getClass().

private String name = “Marry Brown”;

In the above example the name object reference’s attributes are:

ƒ Type is : String
 ƒ The referenced object is also : String

Both the java.lang.String class methods and java.lang.Object class methods are
available for the object reference name.

private Object name = “Marry Brown”;

In the above example the name object reference’s attributes are:

ƒ Type is : Object
ƒ The referenced object is : String

Only the java.lang.Object class methods are available for the object reference name.

Array Types
Arrays in Java are represented as an in build Java Array object.

ƒ Java Programming ƒ Index

ƒ Getting ƒ Classes and

ƒ Overview ƒ Fundamentals
Started Objects

ƒ Concurrent
ƒ Collections ƒ Exceptions ƒ Reflection
Programming

ƒ Applets ƒ JavaBeans ƒ Libraries

Destroying Objects
Unlike in many other object-oriented programming langauges, Java performs automatic garbage
collection - any unreferenced objects are automatically erased from memory - and prohibits the
user from manually destroying objects.

finalize()
When an object is garbage-collected, the programmer may want to manually perform cleanup,
such as closing any open input/output streams. To accomplish this, the finalize() method is used.
Note that finalize() should never be manually called, except to call a super class’ finalize method
from a derivied class’ finalize method. Also, we can not rely on when the finalize() method will
be called. If the java application exits before the object is garbage-collected, the finalize() method
may never be called.

protected void finalize() throws Throwable {

try {
doCleanup(); // Perform some cleanup. If it fails for some reason, it is ignored.
} finally {
super.finalize(); //Call finalize on the parent object
}
}

Overloading Methods and Constructors

If two methods of a class (whether both declared in the same class, or both inherited by a class, or
one declared and one inherited) have the same name but different signatures, then the method
name is said to be overloaded. This fact causes no difficulty and never of itself results in a
compile-time error. There is no required relationship between the return types or between the
throws clauses of two methods with the same name but different signatures.

Methods are overridden on a signature-by-signature basis.

If, for example, a class declares two public methods with the same name, and a subclass overrides
one of them, the subclass still inherits the other method. In this respect, the Java programming
language differs from C++.

When a method is invoked , the number of actual arguments and the compile-time types of the
arguments are used, at compile time, to determine the signature of the method that will be
invoked . If the method that is to be invoked is an instance method, the actual method to be
invoked will be determined at run time, using dynamic method lookup.

Arrays
 Intro to Arrays
An array is similar to a table of data, keyed by number. In Java an array is an object like all other
objects. Look at the following program:

import java.io.*;
public class ArrayExample {
static BufferedReader kbRead = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
System.in));
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
int numNames = getInt(“Number of names? “);
String[] names = new String[numNames];
for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++) {
names[i] = getString(“Enter name #” + i);
}

for (int i = 0; i < names.length; ++i) {

System.out.println(names[i]);
}
}

public static int getInt(String prompt) throws IOException {

System.out.print(prompt + “ “);
return Integer.parseInt(kbRead.readLine());
}

public static String getString(String prompt) throws IOException {

System.out.print(prompt + “ “);
return kbRead.readLine();
}
}

Copy the code and compile it. The program will ask you to enter some names then reprints the
names in order. It demonstrates three major aspects of arrays: how to define an array, how to set
data, and how to access it. The code String[] names = new String[numNames]; tells
Java to create an array of size numNames that will store Strings. To set data, use names[x] =
data where x is the index to access. Note that all Java arrays start at 0 and go to array size - 1.
Thus, if you dimension an array to size 10, the highest index is 9.

Array Fundamentals
ƒ To create an array, use the syntax DataType[] variable = new
DataType[ArraySize]. Alternatively, if you know the data beforehand, you can
write DataType[] variable = {item 1, item 2,...item n}
ƒ To access an item, use the syntax variable[i] where i is the index
ƒ To set an item, use the syntax variable[i] = data
ƒ To find the length of an array, use the syntax variable.length

Two-Dimensional Arrays
Two dimensional array is represented by array of an array. Beacuse an array is also an object like
any other object having the Object as the super class, it can be used to create an array where the
element of the array are also an array. In this way any number of dimensional array can be
created. See below how two create two dimentional arrays with the initializer blocks:

String [][] twoDimArray = { {”00”, “01”, “02”, “03”, “04”},

{”10”, “11”, “12”, “13”, “14”},
{”20”, “21”, “22”, “23”, “23”} };
...
int [][] twoDimIntArray = { {00, 01, 02, 03, 04},
{10, 11, 12, 13, 14},
{20, 21, 22, 23, 24} };

In the above example we defined an array which has three elements, each elements contains an
array having 5 elements. We could create the array having the 5 elements first and use that one in
the initialize block.

String [] oneDimArray = {”00”, “01”, “02”, “03”, “04”};

String [][] twoDimArray = { oneDimArray ,
{”10”, “11”, “12”, “13”, “14”},
{”20”, “21”, “22”, “23”, “24”} };

Multidimensional Array
Going futher any number of dimentional array can be defined.

<elementType>[][]...[] <arrayName>
or
<elementType><arrayName>[][]...[]

ƒ Java Programming ƒ Index

ƒ Getting ƒ Classes and

ƒ Overview ƒ Fundamentals
Started Objects
 ƒ Concurrent
ƒ Collections ƒ Exceptions ƒ Reflection
Programming

ƒ Applets ƒ JavaBeans ƒ Libraries

 Collection Classes
Collections are a group of object bound together by a common characteristic. Java has various
built-in classes to support the collection of objects, either of the same type or general. The most
basic construct to work with is the array of which you will come to know of in a section later in
this chapter.

Introduction to Collections
The most basic collection interface is called Collection. This interface gives the user a generic
usage of a collection.

import java.util.Collection; // Interface

import java.util.ArrayList; // Implementation
import java.util.HashSet; // Implementation
...
Collection coll1 = new ArrayList();
Collection coll2 = new HashSet();
...
< Use coll1 & coll2 >

In the above there are two collections. The usage of the collections are the same, the
implementations are different. If the existing collection implementations do not meet your needs,
you can write your version of the implementation. Your version of the implementation just needs
to implement the same java.util.Collection interface, then you can switch using your
implementation and the code that is using the collection does not need to be changed.

import java.util.Collection;
import com.yourcomp.util.YourCollectionImpl;
...
Collection coll1 = new YourCollectionImpl();
Collection coll2 = new YourCollectionImpl();
...
< Use coll1 & coll2 >

The Java JDK collection implementations are quite good and powerful, so it is unlikely that you
will need to write your own.

All collections contain the object references. Because of that if the object is changed after it was
put in the collection, the object that is ‘in’ the collection also ‘changes’. The object is not really in
the collection, only the object reference is. It is not guaranteed that the objects ‘inside’ the
collections won’t change. This is an issue only if you put an actively used object in the collection.
In that case when you are adding an object that could change any time you need to make a copy
or clone of the object. A new object will be created and its reference will be put in the collection.
In that case there will be no object references outside of the collection, so the objects ‘inside’ the
collection can only be changed if we take out an object reference from the collection.

Addition to the java.util.Collection interface, the Java JDK has the java.util.Map
interface, as well. This defines key value mappings. Implementations of the Map interface do not
contain collections of objects, rather they contain collections of key->value mappings.

import java.util.Map;
import java.util.HashTable;
...
Map map = new HashTable();
...
map.put( key, value );

All collections need to have the same basic operations. Those are:

ƒ Adding element(s) to the collection

ƒ Removing element(s) from the collection
ƒ Obtaining the number of elements in the collection
ƒ Listing the contents of the collection, (Iterating through the collection)

Before selecting a particular collection implementation, ask the following question:

ƒ Can my collection contain the same elements, i.e. are duplicates allowed?
ƒ Can my collection contain the null element?
ƒ Should the collection maintain the order of the elements? Is the order important in
any way?
ƒ How do you want to access an element, by index, key or just with an iterator?
ƒ Does the collection need to be synchronized?
ƒ From a performance perspective, which one needs to be faster, updates or reads?
ƒ From a usage perspective, which operation will be more frequent, updates or
reads?

Once you know your needs, you can select an exsisting implementation. But first decide if you
need a ‘Collection’, or a ‘Map’.

Generics
Since JKD version 1.5 an enhancement to the type system of the Java language has been added. It
is called Generics. Most often Generics will be used with the collection classes.

parameterized type <E>

All collection implementations since 1.5, now have one ‘parameterized type <E>’ added. The ‘E’
refers to an Element type. When a collection is created the actual ‘Element type’ will replace the
E.
Objects put into a collection is upcasted to Object class. It means that you need to cast the object
reference back when you get an element out from the collection. It also means that you need to
know the type of the object when you taking it out. For this reason usually we add object with the
same type to a collection. If a collection cantains different type of objects, we have the difficulty
finding out the type of the object nad run type.

With the use of the ‘parameterized type <E>’, the ‘Elements-type’ that can be put into the
collection, can be specified when the collection object is created.

Collection<Integer> ageList = new ArrayList<Integer>();

ageList.add( new Integer(46) ); // --- Integer can be addedd
ageList.add( “50” ); // --- Compilation error, ageList can have only Integers inside

ageList is a collection that can contain only Integer objects as elements. No casting is required
when we take out an element.

Integer age = ageList(0);

For more information about Generics, please go toGenerics.

Collection or Map
The Java JDK contains two high level Interfaces:

ƒ java.util.Collection
ƒ java.util.Map

Implementations for those interfaces are not interchangeable. Collections are used for collecting
Java objects. Maps are used for mapping key/value pairs.

Collection

Use the Collection interface if you need to keep related (usually same type of) objects together in
a collection where you can:

ƒ Search for a particular element

ƒ List the elements
ƒ You need to maintain and/or change the order of the elements
ƒ You need to access the elemets by an index number
ƒ Maintain the elements by using the collection basic operations (Add, Remove,
Update,..)

The advantage of using the Collection inteface is:

 ƒ Gives a generic usage, as we talked about above, it is easy to switch
implementation
ƒ It makes it easy to convert one type of collection to an other.

The Collection interface defines the follwoing basic oprations:

ƒ boolean add( E o );
ƒ boolean addAll( Collection c );
ƒ boolean remove( Object o );
ƒ boolean removeAll( Collection c );
ƒ boolean retainAll( Collection c );

The methods above return true if the collection changed due to the operation. Note, that in
addAll() we can add any type of collection. This is the beauty of using the Collection interface.
You can have a LinkList and just call the addAll(list) method, passing in a list. You can pass
in a Vector, an ArrayList, a HashSet, a TreeSet, a YourImpOfCollection, ... All those
different type of collections will be magically converted to a LinkList.

Lets have a closer look at this magic. The conversion is easy because, the Collection interface
defines a standard way of looping through the elements. The following code is a possible
implementation of addAll() method of the LinkList.

import java.util.Collection
import java.util.Iterator
...
public String addAll( Collection coll )
{
int sizeBefor = _linkLink.size();
Iterator iter = coll.iterator();
while( iter.hasNext() )
{
_linkList.add( iter.next() );
}
if ( sizeBefore > _linkList.size();
{
return true;
}
else
{
return false;
}
}

The above code just iterate through the passed in collection and adds the elements to the link list.
You do not have to do that, since that is already defined. What you might need to code for is to
loop through a ‘Customer’ collection:

import java.util.Collection
import java.util.Iterator
import java.yourcompany.Customer
...

public String printCustomerNames( Collection customerColl )

{
StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer();
Iterator iter = customerColl.iterator();
while( iter.hasNext() )
{
Customer cust = (Customer) iter.next();
buf.append( cust.getName() );
buf.append( “\n” );
}
return buf.toString();
}

Notice two things:

ƒ The above code will work for all type of collections.

ƒ We have to know the type of objects inside the collection, because we call a
method on it.

Map

Figure 1:Map Interfaces

Map, sometime also called as an Associated Array and sometimes as a Dictionary, can be thought
of as an array where the index need not be an integer.

Use the Map interface if you need to keep related objects together in a Map where you can:

ƒ Access an element by a key object

ƒ Map one object to other
java.util.Map<K,V>
maps keys to values. A map cannot contain duplicate keys; each key can map to at
most one value. The Map interface provides three collection views, which allow a
map’s contents to be viewed as a set of keys, collection of values, or set of key-value
mappings. The key usually a non-mutable object. The value object however can be a
mutable object.
java.util.SortedMap<K,V>
same as the Map interface, plus the kesy in the Map are sorted

Set or List or Queue

Figure 2:

There is no direct implementation for the java.util.Collection interface. The Collection

interface has three sub interfaces. Those are:

java.util.Set<E>
contains unique elements, so duplicates not allowed. It is similar to Mathematical
Set.
java.util.List<E>
elements are put in the list in a certain order, and can be accessed by an index.
Duplicates are allowed, the same element can be added to a list.
java.util.SortedSet<E>
same as the Set interface; plus the elements in the SortedSet are sorted
java.util.Queue<E>
queues provide additional insertion, extraction, and inspection operations. FIFO(first-
in-first-out), or LIFO(last-in-first-out) queues.
java.util.BlockingQueue<E>
wait for the queue to become non-empty when retrieving an element, and wait for
space to become available in the queue when storing an element, best used for
producer-consumer queues.

Set

The basic implementation of the Set interface is the HashSet.

java.util.TreeSet<E>
Elements are sorted, not syncronized, null not allowed
java.util.HashSet<E>
Not syncronized, allows the null elements
java.util.CopyOnWriteArraySet<E>
Thread safe, a fresh copy is created during modification operation, add, update, delete
are expensive.
java.util.EnumSet<E extends Enum<E>>
All of the elements in an enum set must come from a single enum type that is
specified, explicitly or implicitly, when the set is created. Enum sets are represented
internally as bit vectors.
java.util.LinkHashSet<E>
Same as HashSet, plus defines the iteration ordering, which is the order in which
elements were inserted into the set.

Set can not have duplicates. You may wonder how duplicates are detected when we are adding
an object to the Set. We have to see if that object exsits in the Set or not. It is not enough to
check the object references, the objects values have to be checked as well.

To do that, fortunately, each java object has the boolean equal(Object obj);, method
available inherited from Object. You need to override it. That method will be called by the Set
implementation to compare the two objects to see if they are equal or not.

There is a problem, though. What if I put two different type of objects to the Set. I put an Apple
and an Orange. They can not be compared. Calling the equal() method would cause a
ClassCastException. There are two solutions to this:
 ƒ Solution one : Override the int hashCode() method and return the same values
for the same type of objects and return different values for different type of
objects. The equal() method is used to compare objects only with the same value
of hasCode. So before an object is added, the Set implementation needs to.
ƒ find all the objects in the Set that has the same hashCode as the candidate
object hashCode
ƒ and for those, call the equal() methods passing in the candidate object
ƒ if any of them returns true, the object is not added to the Set.
ƒ Solution two : Create a super class for the Apple and Orange, lets call it Fruit
class. Put Fruits in the Set. You need to do the followings:
ƒ Do not override the equals() and hashCode() methods in the Apple and
Oragne classes
ƒ Create appleEquals() method in the Apple class, and create
orangeEquals() method in the Orange class
ƒ Override the hashCode() method in the Fruit class and return the same
value, so the equals() is called by the Set implementation
ƒ Override the equals() method in the Fruit class for something like this.

public boolean equals( Object obj )

{
boolean ret = false;
if ( this instanceof Apple &&
obj instanceof Apple )
{
ret = this.appleEquals(obj);
}
else if ( this instanceof Orange &&
obj instanceof Orange )
{
ret = this.orangeEquals(obj);
}
else
{
// --- Can not compare Orange to Apple ---
ret = false;
}
return ret;
}

Note:

ƒ only those objects are compared that has the same hashCode.
ƒ you are responsible to override the equal() and hashCode() methods, the default
won’t work
ƒ only override the hashCode() method, if you want to elmiminate value
duplicates.
ƒ do not override the hashCode() method, if you know that the values of your
objects are different, and or if you only want to prevent adding the exactly same
object.
 ƒ beware that the hashCode() may be used in other collection implementaions, like
in a HashTable to find an object fast. Overriding the default hasCode() method
may cause performance problems there.
ƒ the default hashCodes are unique for each object created, so if you decide not to
override the hashCode() method, there is no point overriding the equal()
method, it won’t be called.

SortedSet

The SortedSet interface extends the Set Interface. All elements in the SortedSet must implement
the Comparable Interface, futher more all elements must be mutually comparable.

Note that the ordering maintained by a sorted set must be consistent with equals if the sorted set is
to correctly implement the Set interface. This is so because the Set interface is defined in terms of
the equals operation, but a sorted set performs all element comparisons using its compareTo (or
compare) method, so two elements that are deemed equal by this method are, from the standpoint
of the sorted set, equal.

The SortedSet interface has additional methods due to the sorted nature of the ‘Set’. Those are:

ƒ E first(); -- returns the first element

ƒ E last(); -- returns the last element
ƒ SortedSet headSet(E toElement); -- returns from the first, to the exclusive
toElement
ƒ SortedSet tailSet(E fromElement); -- returns from the inclusive
fromElement to the end
ƒ SortedSet subSet(E fromElement, E toElement); -- returns elements range
from fromElement, inclusive, to toElement, exclusive. (If fromElement and
toElement are equal, the returned sorted set is empty.)

List

The List has the following implemenations:

java.util.Vector<E>
Syncronized, use in multiple thread access, otherwise use ArrayList
java.util.Stack<E>
It extends class Vector with five operations that allow a vector to be treated as a
stack. It represents a last-in-first-out (LIFO) stack of objects.
java.util.ArrayList<E>
Non-syncronized, use in single thread environment, otherwise use Vector
java.util.LinkList<E>
Non-syncronized, update operation is faster than other lists, easy to use for stacks,
queues, double-ended queues.
javax.management.AtributeList<E>
Represents a list of values for attributes of an MBean. The methods used for the
insertion of Attribute objects in the AttributeList overrides the corresponding methods
in the superclass ArrayList. This is needed in order to insure that the objects
contained in the AttributeList are only Attribute objects.
javax.management.relation.RoleList<E>
A RoleList represents a list of roles (Role objects). It is used as parameter when
creating a relation, and when trying to set several roles in a relation (via ‘setRoles()’
method). It is returned as part of a RoleResult, to provide roles successfully retrieved.
javax.management.relation.RoleUnresolvedList<E>
A RoleUnresolvedList represents a list of RoleUnresolved objects, representing roles
not retrieved from a relation due to a problem encountered when trying to access
(read or write to roles).

The basic implemenation of the List interface is the ArrayList. The ArrayList is not
syncronized, not thread safe. Vector is syncronized, and thread safe. Vector is slower, because
of the extra overhead to make it thread safe. When only one thread is accessing the list, use the
ArrayList. Whenever you insert or remove an element from the list, there are extra overhead to
reindex the list. When you have a large list, and you have lots of insert and remove, consider
using the LinkList.

The name LinkList implies a special data structure where the elements/nodes are connected by
pointers. To remove an element from the link list the pointers need to be rearranged.

Head Node 1 Node 2 Node n

| Size | _________________ _______________ _____________

|______| | | point | | | point | | | |

| First|-------->| Data | to next |------>| Data | to next|-- ... -->| Data | null |
| elem | |______|_________| |______|________| |______|______|
|______| |
| Last |-----------------------------------------------------------------
|_elem_|

After removing Node 2:

Head Node 1 Node 2 Node n

______ ___________________...________
| Size | _________________ | _______________ _|____________
|_- 1__| | | point | | | | point | | | |
| First|-------->| Data | to next |---- | Data | to next| | Data | null |
| elem | |______|_________| |______|________| |______|______|
|______| |
| Last |-----------------------------------------------------------------
|_elem_|

Queue

The Queue interface adds the following operations to the Collection interface:

Retrieves, but does not remove, the head of this queue. This method
E element() differs from the peek method only in that it throws an exception if this
queue is empty

boolean
Inserts the specified element into this queue, if possible.
offer(E o)
 Retrieves, but does not remove, the head of this queue, returning null if
E peek()
this queue is empty

Retrieves and removes the head of this queue, or null if this queue is
E poll()
empty

Retrieves and removes the head of this queue. This method differs from
E remove()
the poll method in that it throws an exception if this queue is empty.

java.util.PriorityQueue<E>
orders elements according to an
order/priority specified at
construction time, null element is not
allowed.
java.util.concorrent.ArrayBlockingQueue<E>
orders elements FIFO; syncronized,
thread safe.
java.util.concorrent.SyncronousQueue<E>
each put must wait for a take, and
vice versa, does not have any internal
capacity, not even a capacity of one,
an element is only present when you
try to take it; you cannot add an
element (using any method) unless
another thread is trying to remove it

Map Classes
The Map interface has the following implementations:
java.util.TreeMap<E>
guarantees that the map will be in ascending key order, sorted according to the natural
order for the key’s class, not-syncronized.
java.util.HashMap<E>
is roughly equivalent to Hashtable, except that it is unsynchronized and permits
nulls
java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap
same HashTable, plus retrieval operations (including get) generally do not block, so
may overlap with update operations (including put and remove).
java.util.HashTable<E>
Syncronized, null can not be used as key
java.util.WeakHashMap<E>
entry in a WeakHashMap will automatically be removed when its key is no longer in
ordinary use. Nonsyncronized.
java.util.LinkHashMap<E>
This linked list defines the iteration ordering, which is normally the order in which
keys were inserted into the map (insertion-order). Note that insertion order is not
affected if a key is re-inserted into the map.
java.util.IdentityHashMap
This class implements the Map interface with a hash table, using reference-equality in
place of object-equality when comparing keys (and values). In other words, in an
IdentityHashMap, two keys k1 and k2 are considered equal if and only if (k1==k2).
(In normal Map implementations (like HashMap) two keys k1 and k2 are considered
equal if and only if (k1==null ? k2==null : k1.equals(k2)).) Not-syncronized.
java.util.EnumMap
 All of the keys in an enum map must come from a single enum type that is specified,
explicitly or implicitly, when the map is created. Enum maps are represented
internally as arrays. This representation is extremely compact and efficient. Not-
syncronized.

Thread Safe Collections

It is also called Concurrent Collections. Most of the popular collection classes have
implementations for both single thread and multiple thread environments. The non-syncronized
implementations are always faster. You can use the non-syncronized implementations in multiple
thread environments, when you make sure that only one thread updating the collection an any
given time.

A new Java JDK package was introduced at Java 1.5, that is java.util.cuncurrent. This
package supplies a few Collection implementations designed for use in multithreaded
environments.

The following table list all the syncronized collection classes:

syncronized non-syncronized

java.util.Vector java.util.ArrayList

java.util.Stack
List
java.util.LinkList

java.util.cuncurrent.CopyOneWriteArrayList

Set java.util.TreeSet

java.util.HashSet

java.util.LinkHashSet
 java.util.cuncurrent.CopyOneWriteArraySet

java.util.TreeMap

java.util.HashTable
Map java.util.HashMap
java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap

java.util.LinkHashMap
java.util.IdentityHashMap
java.util.EnumMap

Classes Diagram (UML)

The following UML class diagram shows the Collection interfaces and their implementations.
The following UML class diagram shows the Map interfaces and their implementations.
 Throwing and Catching Exceptions
Exception
Exceptions are Java’s way of error handling. Whenever an unexpected condition
occurs, an exception can be thrown with an Exception Object as a parameter. It means
that the normal program control flow stops and the search for a catch block begins. If
that is not found at the current method level the search continues at the caller method
level, until a matching catch block is found. If none is found the exception will be
handled by the JVM, and usually the java program terminates.
When a catch “matching” block is found, that block will be executed, the Exception
Object is passed to the block as a parameter. Then normal program execution
continues after the catch block. See Java exception handling syntact
Exception Object
Thisat is the object that is “thrown” as a parameter from the error, and passed to the
catch block. Exception Object incapsulates the information about the error’s location
and its nature. All Exception Objects must be inhereted from the
java.lang.Throwable. See the main Exception Classes in UML

Handling exceptions
Let’s examine the following code:

public void methodA() throws SomeException, AnotherException {

//methodbody
}
public void methodB() throws CustomException{
//Methodbody
}
public void methodC(){
methodB();
methodA();
}

In the code sample, methodB is invalid. Because methodA and methodB pass (or throw)
exceptions, methodC must be prepared to handle them. This can be handled in two ways: a try -
catch block, which will handle the exception within the method and a throws clause which
would in turn throw the exception to the caller to handle. The above example will cause a
compilation error, as Java is very strict about exception handling. So the programmer forced to
handle any possible error condition at some point.

A method can do two thinks with an exception. Ask the calling method to handle it by the
throws declaration. Or handle the exception inside the method by the try-catch block.
To construct a throws declaration, add throws ExceptionName (additional exceptions can be
added with commas). To construct a try - catch block, use the following syntax

...
try {
//Possibly exception-causing code
}
catch (TheException e) {
//Handle the exception
}
finally {
//Optional. Executes regardless of exceptions thrown
}

The original code can be modified to work correctly in multiple ways. For example, the
following:

public void methodC() throws CustomException, SomeException{

try {
methodB();
}
catch (AnotherException e){
//handle it
}
methodA();
}

The AnotherException from methodB will be handled locally, while CustomException and
SomeException will be thrown to the caller to handle it.

Application Exceptions
Application Exception classes should extend the java.lang.Exception class. Some of the
JDK classes also throws exception objects inherited from java.lang.Exception. If any of
those Exception object is thrown, it must be caught by the application some point, by a catch-
block. The compiler will enforce that there is a catch-block associated with an exception thrown,
if the thrown exception object is inherited from java.lang.Exception and it is not the
java.lang.RuntimeException or its inherited objects. However,
java.lang.RuntimeException or its inherited objects, can be caught by the application, but
that is not enforced by the compiler.

Lets see what is the catching criteria for a catch block to catch the “thrown” exception.

A catch-block will “catch” a thrown exception if and only if:

ƒ the thrown exception object is the same as the exception object specified by the
catch-block
 ƒ the thrown exception object is the subtype of the exception object specified by the
catch-block

try {
throw new Exception( “This will be catched below” );
}
catch( Exception e ) {
// --- The “thrown” object is the same what is specified at the catch-block—
}
try {
throw new NullPointerException( “This will be catched below” );
}
catch( Exception e ) {
// --- NullPointerException is subclass of the Exception class—
}

There can be more than one catch-block for a try-block. The catching blocks eveluated
sequentially one by one. If a catch-block catch the exception, the others will not be eveluated.

Example:

try {
throw new NullPointerException( “This will be catched below” );
}
catch( Exception e ) {
// --- The above NullPointerException will catched by here—
}
catch( NullPointerException e ) { // --- THIS CODE NEVER EXECUTED - Compiler error
// ---
}

Because NullPointerException is subclass of the Exception class. All NullPointerExceptions will

be caught by the first catch-block.

Instead the above code should be rewritten as follows:

try {
throw new NullPointerException( “This will be catched below” );
}
catch( NullPointerException e ) {
// --- The above NullPointerException will catched by here ---
}
catch( Exception e ) {
// --- Any other exception except the NullPointerException will be caught here—
}

Runtime Exceptions
The java.lang.RuntimeException exception class is inherited from
java.lang.Exception. It is a special exception class, because catching this exception class or
its subclasses are not enforced by the Java compiler.

runtime exception
Runtime exceptions are usually caused by data errors, like arithmetic overflow,
devide by zero, ... . Runtime exceptions are not business related exceptions. In a well
debbuged code, runtime exceptions should not occure.

NullPointerException

NullPointerException is a RuntimeException. In Java, a special null can be assigned to an

object reference. NullPointerException is thrown when an application attempts to use an object
reference, having the null value. These include:

ƒ Calling the instance method of a null object.

ƒ Accessing or modifying the field of a null object.
ƒ Taking the length of null as if it were an array.
ƒ Accessing or modifying the slots of null as if it were an array.
ƒ Throwing null as if it were a Throwable value.

Applications should throw instances of this class to indicate other illegal uses of the null object.

Object obj = null;

...
obj.toString(); // --- This will throw a NullPointerException ---

The above code shows one of the pitfall of Java, and the most common source of bugs. No object
is created and the compiler does not detect it. NullPointerException is one of the most common
exception thrown in Java.

why do we need the use of null ?

The reason we need it because many times we need to create a object reference, before the object
itself is created. Object references can not exsist without a value, so we assign the null value to
it.

public Customer getCustomer()

{
Customer customer = null;
try {
...
customer = createCustomer();
...
}
catch ( Exception e)
 {

...

}
return customer;
}

In the above code we want to create the Customer inside the try-block, but we also want to return
the object reference to the caller, so we need to create the object reference outside of the try-
block, because of the scopeing rule in Java. This is one of the pitfall of Java.

Main Exception Classes

java.lang.Throwable
The Throwable class is the
superclass of all errors and
exceptions in the Java
language. Only objects that
are instances of this class (or
one of its subclasses) are
thrown by the Java Virtual
Machine or can be thrown by
the Java throw statement.
A throwable contains a
snapshot of the execution
stack of its thread at the time
it was created. It can also
contain a message string that
gives more information about
the error. Finally, it can
contain a cause: another
throwable that caused this
throwable to get thrown. The
cause facility is new in
release 1.4. It is also known
as the chained exception
facility, as the cause can,
itself, have a cause, and so
on, leading to a “chain” of
exceptions, each caused by
another
java.lang.Error
An Error indicates serious
problems that a reasonable
 application should not try to
catch. Most such errors are
abnormal conditions.
java.lang.Exception
The class Exception and its
subclasses are a form of
Throwable that indicates
conditions that a reasonable
application might want to
catch. Also this is the class
that a programmer may want
to extend when adding
business logic exceptions.
java.lang.RuntimeException
RuntimeException is the
superclass of those
exceptions that can be thrown
during the normal operation
of the Java Virtual Machine.
A method is not required to
declare in its throws clause
any subclasses of
RuntimeException that might
be thrown during the
execution of the method but
not caught.
java.lang.NullPointerException
Thrown when an application
attempts to use null in a case
where an object is required.

ƒ Java Programming ƒ Index

ƒ Getting ƒ Classes and

ƒ Overview ƒ Fundamentals
Started Objects
 ƒ Concurrent
ƒ Collections ƒ Exceptions ƒ Reflection
Programming

ƒ Applets ƒ JavaBeans ƒ Libraries

This page describes some techniques for preventing NullPointerException. It does not describe
general techniques for how you should program Java. It is of some use, to make you more aware
of null values, and to be more careful about generating them yourself. Note that this list is not
complete - there are no rules for preventing NullPointerException entirely in Java, because the
standard libraries have to be used, and they can cause NullPointerExceptions. Also, it is possible
to observe an uninitialised final field in Java, so you can’t even treat a final field as being
completely trusted during the object’s creation. A good approach is to learn how to deal with
NullPointerExceptions first, and become competent with that. These suggestions will help you to
cause less NullPointerExceptions, but they don’t replace the need to know about
NullPointerExceptions.

Minimize the use the keyword ‘null’ in assignment

statements
This means not doing things like:

String s=null;
while (something)
if (something2)
s=”yep”;
if (s!=null)
something3(s);

You can replace this with:

boolean done=false;
while (!done && something)
if (something2)
{
done=true;
something3(“yep”);
}

You might also consider replacing null with “” in the first example, but default values bring about
bugs caused by default values being left in place. A NullPointerException is actually better, as it
allows the runtime to tell you about the bug, rather than just continue with a default value.
 Minimize the use of the new Type[int] syntax for
creating arrays of objects
An array created using new Object[10] has 10 null pointers. That’s 10 more than we want, so use
collections instead, or explicitly fill the array at initialisation with:

Object[] objects={”blah”,5,new File(“/usr/bin”)};

or:

Object[] objects;
objects=new Object[]{”blah”,5,new File(“/usr/bin”)};

Check all references obtained from ‘untrusted’

methods
Many methods that can return a reference can return a null reference. Make sure you check these.
For example:

File file=new File(“/etc”);

File[] files=file.listFiles();
if (files!=null)
{
stuff
}

File.listFiles() can return null if “/etc” is not a directory.

You can decide to trust some methods not to return null, if you like, but that’s an assumption
you’re making. Some methods that don’t specify that they might return null, actually do, instead
of throwing an exception.