JAVA

Note

By Bhushan Laware
bhushanlaware@gmail.com
Contents
1. Language Fundamentals
2. Operators and Assignments
3. Declaration and Access Control
4. Flow Control
5. Exception Handling
6. Assertions
7. OO Concepts
8. Inner Classes
9. Threads and Concurrency
10. Fundamental classes in java.lang.package
a. Object Class
b. String class
c. StringBuffer Class
d. StringBuilder Class
e. Wrapper Classes
f. Math class
11. The Collections framework and Generics
12. File I/O & Serialization
13. Garbage Collection
14. 1.5 version New Features
a. Enum
b. For-Each Loop
c. . Var-Arg Methods
d. Auto Boxing & Unboxing
e. Static Imports
15. Internationalization
16. Quick Reference
 1.
Language Fundamentals

1. Identifiers
2. Reserved words
3. Data types
4. Literals
5. Arrays
6. Types of variables
7. Var-arg method
8. Main method
9. Command line arguments
10. Java coding standards
1.1 Identifier

A name in java program is called identifier. It may be class name, method

name, variable name and label name.

Example:

public class Main

public static void main(String[]

args) { int x=10;

System.out.println("Hello World");

►So here, number of identifiers are 5.

Rules to define java identifiers

A. The only allowed characters in java identifiers are
a. a to z
b. A to Z
c. 0 to 9
d. _
e. $

If we are using any other character we will get compile time error.
 Example:

1. Total_number ►valid
2. Total# ►invalid

B. Identifiers are not allowed to starts with

digit. Example:

1. ABC123 ►valid
2. 123ABC ►invalid

C. java identifiers are case sensitive up course java language itself treated as
case sensitive language

Example:

class Test

int number=10;

int Number=20;

int NUMBER=20; we can differentiate with

case. int NuMbEr=30;

Int numBER=40;

D. There is no length limit for java identifiers but it is not recommended to

take more than 15 lengths.
E. We can’t use reserved words as

identifiers. Example:

int if = 10 ►invalid
F. All predefined java class names and interface names we use as

identifiers. Example 1:

class Test

public static void main(String[]

args){ int String=10;

System.out.println(String);

►Output: 10

Example 2:

class Test

public static void main(String[]

args){ int Runnable=10;

System.out.println(Runnable);

►Output: 10

Even though it is legal to use class names and interface names as

identifiers but it is not a good programming practice.
★ Which of the following are valid java identifiers?
1. _$_ ►valid
2. Ca$h ►valid
3. java2Share ►valid
4. all@hands ►invalid
5. 123abc ►invalid
6. Total# ►invalid
7. int ►invalid
8. Integer ►valid
1.2 Reserved words

In java some identifiers are reserved to associate some functionality or meaning

such type of reserved identifiers are called reserved words.

Diagram:

Reserved words for data

types:
1. byte 4. long 7. char

2. short 5. float 8. boolean

3. int 6. double
Reserved words for flow control:
1. if 5. default 9. break
2. else 6. for 10.
continue
3. switch 7. do 11. return
4. case 8. while

Keywords for modifiers:

1. public 5. final 9. strictfp (1.2v)
2. private 6. abstract 10. transient
3. protected 7. synchronized 11.volatile
4. static 8. native
Keywords for exception
handling:
3. finally 5. throws
1. try
4. throw 6. assert (1.4v)
2. catch

Class related keywords:

3. import 5. implements
1. class
4. extends 6. interface
2. package

Object related keywords:

3. super
1. new
4. this
2. instanceof

void return type keyword:

If a method won’t return anything compulsory that method should be declared

with the

void return type in java but it is optional in

C++. Unused keywords:

1. goto: Create several problems in old languages and hence it is banned in java.
2. Const: Use final instead of this.
 By mistake if we are using these keywords in our program we will get
compile time error.

Reserved literals:

1. true ►values for boolean data type.

2. false ►values for boolean data type.
3. null ►default value for object

reference. Enum:

This keyword introduced in 1.5v to define a group of named constants

Example:

enum Beer

KF, RC, KO, FO;

Notes:
★ All reserved words in java contain only lowercase alphabet symbols.
★ New keywords are:
1. strictfp → 1.2v
2. assert → 1.4v
3. enum → 1.5v
★ Which of the following list contains only java reserved words?
1. final, finally, finalize
➢ Invalid. Here finalize is a method in Object class.
2. throw, throws, thrown
➢ Invalid. thrown is not available in java.
3. break, continue, return, exit
➢ Invalid. exit is not reserved keyword.
4. goto, constant
➢ Invalid. Here constant is not reserved keyword.
5. byte, short, Integer, long
➢ Invalid. Here Integer is a wrapper class.
6. extends, implements, imports
➢ Invalid. imports keyword is not available in java.
7. finalize, synchronized
➢ Invalid. finalize is a method in Object class.
8. instanceof, sizeOf
➢ Invalid. sizeOf is not reserved keyword.
9. new, delete
➢ Invalid. delete is not a keyword.
10. None of the above
➢ Valid.

★ Which of the following are valid java keywords?

1. public (valid) 3. void (valid) 5. String (invalid)
2. static(valid) 4. main 6. args (invalid)
(invalid)
1.3 Data Types

Every variable has a type, every expression has a type and all types are strictly
define moreover every assignment should be checked by the compiler by
the type compatibility hence java language is considered as strongly typed
language.

● Java is pure object oriented programming or not?

➢ Java is not considered as pure object oriented programming
language because several oops features (like multiple inheritance,
operator overloading) are not supported by java moreover we are
depending on primitive data types which are non objects.

Diagram:
★ Note:
Except Boolean and char all remaining data types are considered as signed data

types because we can represent both “+ve” and”-ve” numbers.

A. byte:
❏ Size: 1 Byte (8 bits)
❏ Max-value: +127
❏ Min-value: -128
❏ Range: 128 to 127 [-27 to 27-1]

Example:

byte b=10; ►✔

byte b2=130; ►C.E: possible loss of

precision byte b=10.5►C.E: possible loss of

precision

byte b=true; ►C.E: incompatible types

byte b="durga"; ►C.E: incompatible types

● byte data type is best suitable if we are handling data in terms of streams
either from the file or from the network.

B. short:
❏ Size: 2 Bytes
❏ Range: -32768 to 32767 (-215 to 215-1)

Example:

short s=130; ►✔

short s=32768; ►C.E: possible loss of

precision short s=true; ►C.E: incompatible

types
 ● The most rarely used data type in java is short.
● Short data type is best suitable for 16 bit processors like 8086 but
these processors are
C. Int: ● completely outdated and hence the corresponding short data type is also
out data type.

❏ Size: 4 bytes
❏ Range: -2147483648 to 2147483647 (-231 to 231-1)

Example:

int i=130; ►✔

int i=10.5; ►C.E: possible loss of precision

int i=true; ►C.E: incompatible types

● This is most commonly used data type in java.

D. long:
❏ Size: 8 bytes
❏ Range:-263 to 263-1

Example:

long l= 13l;

● To hold the no. Of characters present in a big file int may not enough
hence the return type of length() method is long.

long l=f.length() ; ►f is a file

● Whenever int is not enough to hold big values then we should go for long
data type.
★ Note:
All the above data types (byte, short, int and long) can be used to represent whole
numbers. If we want to represent real numbers then we should go for floating point
data types.

E. Floating Point Data types:

float double

If we want to 5 to 6 decimal places of If we want to 14 to 15 decimal

accuracy then we should go for float. places of accuracy then we
should go for double.

Size: Size:
4 bytes 8 bytes

Range: Range:
-3.4e38 to 3.4e38 -1.7e308 to1.7e308.

float follows single precision. double follows double precision

F. boolean data type:

❏ Size: Not applicable (virtual machine dependent)
❏ Range: Not applicable but allowed values are true or false.

Example 1:

boolean b=true; ►✔

boolean b=True; ►C.E:cannot find symbol

 boolean b="True"; ►C.E:incompatible types

boolean b=0; ►C.E:incompatible types

Example 2:

int x=10;
if( x )
System.out.println(“Hello”);
else
System.out.println(“HI”);

►Compiler error: incompatible

types Found: int
Require: boolean

Example 3:

while(1)
System.out.println(“Hello”);

►Compiler error: incompatible

types Found: int
Require: boolean
G. Char data type:
❏ Size: 2 bytes
❏ Range: 0 to

65535 Example:

char ch1=97; ►✓

char ch2=65536; ►C.E:possible loss of precision

 ● In java we are allowed to use any worldwide alphabets character and java is
Unicode based to represent all these characters one byte is not enough compulsory
we should go for 2 bytes.

Summary of java primitive data type:

Data Type Size Range Wrapper Class Default Value

byte 1 byte -27 to -27 -1 Byte 0

(-128 to 127)

short 2 byte -215 to -215 -1 Short 0

(-32768 to 32767)

int 4 byte -231 to -231 -1 Integer 0

(-2147483648 to
-2147483647)

long 8 byte -261 to -261 -1 Long 0

float 4 byte -3.4e38 to 3.4e38 Float 0.0f

double 8 byte -1.7e308 to Double 0.0

1.7e308

boolean Not applicable true/false Boolean false

char 2 byte 0 to 65535 Character 0 (Blank Space)

★ The default value for the object references is “null”.

1.4 Literals

Any constant value which can be assigned to the variable is called

literal. Example:

A. Integral Literals:
For the integral data types (byte, short, int and long) we can specify literal
value in the following ways.

1. Decimal literals: Allowed digits are 0 to

9. Example: int x=10;

2. Octal literals: Allowed digits are 0 to 7. Literal value should be

prefixed with zero.

Example: int x=010;

3. Hexadecimal literals: The allowed digits are 0 to 9, A to Z. For the

extra digits we can use both upper case and lower case characters.
This is one of very few areas where java is not case sensitive. Literal
value should be prefixed with ox(or)oX.
 Example: int x=0x10;

★ These are the only possible ways to specify integral literal.

★ Which of the following are valid declarations?
a. int x=0786; ►C.E:integer number too large: 0786 ►invalid
b. int x=0xFACE; ►Valid
c. int x=0xbeef; ►Valid
d. int x=0xBeer; ►C.E: ';' expected ►invalid
e. int x=0xBeer; ►Valid
f. int x=0xabb2cd; ►Valid
★ Example 1:

int x=10;

int y=010;

int z=0x10;

System.out.println(x+"----"+y+"---"+z);

►Output: 10----8- 16

➤ By default every integral literal is int type but we can specify explicitly as
long type by suffixing with small “l” (or) capital “L”.
1. int x=10; ►valid
2. long l=10L; ►valid
3. long l=10; ►valid
4. x=10l; ►invalid ►C.E:possible loss of precision

➤ There is no direct way to specify byte and short literals explicitly. But
whenever we are assigning integral literal to the byte variables and its
value within the range of byte compiler automatically treats as byte
literal. Similarly short literal also.
 1. byte b=10; ►valid
2. byte b=130; ►Invalid ►C.E:possible loss of precision
3. short s=32767; ►valid
4. short s=32768; ►Invalid ►C.E:possible loss of precision

B. Floating Point Literals:

➤ Floating point literal is by default double type but we can
specify explicitly as float type by suffixing with f or F.

Example:

1. float f=123.456; ►Invalid ►C.E:possible loss of

precision
2. float f=123.456f; ►valid
3. double d=123.456 ►valid

➤ We can specify explicitly floating point literal as double type by

suffixing with d or D.

Example:

1. double d=123.456D;

➤ We can specify floating point literal only in decimal form and we

can’t specify in octal and hexadecimal forms.

Example:

1. double d=123.456; ►valid

2. double d=0123.456; ►valid
3. double d=0x123.456; ►Invalid ►C.E:possible loss of precision
★ Which of the following floating point declarations are valid?
1. float f=123.456; ►Invalid ►C.E:possible loss of precision
2. float f=123.456D; ►Invalid ►C.E:possible loss of precision
3. double d=0x123.456; ►Invalid ►C.E:malformed floating point literal
4. double d=0xFace; ►valid
5. double d=0xBeef; ►valid

➤ We can assign integral literal directly to the floating point data types and
that integral literal can be specified in octal and Hexadecimal form
also.

Example:

double d=0xBeef;
System.out.println(d);
►Output: 48879.0

But we can’t assign floating point literal directly to the integral

types. Example:

int x=10.0; ►Invalid ►C.E:possible loss of precision

➤ We can specify floating point literal even in exponential form

also(significant notation).

Example:

double d=10e2; ►valid

System.out.println(d); ►Output: 1000.0

float f=10e2; ►Invalid ►C.E:possible loss of

precision float f=10e2F; ►valid

C. Boolean literals:
 The only allowed values for the boolean type are true (or) false where
case is important.

Example:

1. boolean b=true; ►valid

2. boolean b=0; ►Invalid ►C.E:incompatible types
3. boolean b=True; ►Invalid ►C.E:cannot find symbol
True
4. b="true"; ►Invalid ►C.E:incompatible types

D. Char literals:
➤ A char literal can be represented as single character within single
quotes.

Example:

1. char ch='a'; ►valid

2. char ch=a; ►Invalid ►C.E:cannot find symbol a
3. char ch="a"; ►Invalid ►C.E:incompatible types
4. char ch='ab'; ►Invalid ►C.E:unclosed character literal

➤ We can specify a char literal as integral literal which represents

Unicode of that character. We can specify that integral literal either
in decimal or octal or hexadecimal form but allowed values range
is 0 to 65535.
Example:

1. char ch=97; ►valid

2. char ch=0xFace; ►valid
3. char ch=65536; ►Invalid ►C.E: possible loss of
precision

➤ We can represent a char literal by Unicode representation

which is nothing but ‘\uxxxx’.
 Example:

1. char ch1='\u0061';
System.out.println(ch1);
►Output: a
2. char ch2=\u0062; ►Invalid ►C.E:cannot find symbol
3. char ch3='\iface'; ►Invalid ►C.E:illegal escape character

➤ Every escape character in java acts as a char literal.

Example:

1. char ch='\n'; ►valid

2. char ch='\l'; ►Invalid ►C.E:illegal escape character

Escape Character Description

\n Newline

\t Horizontal tab

\r Carriage return

\f From feeb

\b Backspace character

\’ Single Quote

\” Double Quote

\\ Backspace

❖ Which of the following char declarations are valid?

1. char ch=a; ►Invalid ►C.E:cannot find symbol
2. char ch='ab'; ►Invalid ►C.E:unclosed character literal
3. char ch=65536; ►Invalid ►C.E:possible loss of
precision
 4. char ch=\uface; ►Invalid ►C.E:illegal character: \64206
5. char ch='/n'; ►Invalid ►C.E:unclosed character literal
6. none of the ►Valid
above.

E. String literals:
● Any sequence of characters with in double quotes is treated as
String literal.

Example:

String s="bhaskar"; ►Valid

★ Diagram:
1.5 Arrays

1. Introduction
2. Array declaration
3. Array construction
4. Array initialization
5. Array declaration, construction, initialization in a single line.
6. length Vs length() method
7. Anonymous arrays
8. Array element assignments
9. Array variable assignments

I. Introduction
➤ An array is an indexed collection of fixed number of homogeneous
data elements.
➤ The main advantage of arrays is we can represent multiple values
with the same name so that readability of the code will be
improved.
➤ But the main disadvantage of arrays is: Fixed in size that is once
we created an array there is no chance of increasing or decreasing
the size based on our requirement that is to use arrays concept
compulsory we should know the size in advance which may not
possible always.
➤ We can resolve this problem by using collections.
II. Array declarations:
A. Single dimensional array

declaration: Example:

1. int[] a;

►recommended to use because name is

clearly separated from the type

2. int []a;
3. int a[];

At the time of declaration we can’t specify the size otherwise we

will get compile time error.

Example:

1. int[] a; ►valid
2. int[5] a; ►invalid

B. Two dimensional array

declaration: Example:

int[][] a;

int [][]a;

int a[][]; All are valid.

int[] []a;

int[] a[];

int []a[];
 C. Three dimensional array

declaration: Example:

int[][][] a;

int [][][]a;

int a[][][];

int[] [][]a;

int[] a[][];

int[] []a[]; All are valid.

int[][] []a;

int[][] a[];

int []a[][];

int [][]a[];

★ Which of the following declarations are valid?

1. int[] a1,b1; ►valid ►a-1,b-1
2. int[] a2[],b2; ►valid ►a-2,b-1
3. int[] []a3,b3; ►valid ►a-2,b-2
4. int[] a,[]b; ►Invalid ►C.E:<identifier> expected

If we want to specify the dimension before the variable that rule is

applicable only for the 1st variable. Second variable onwards we can’t
apply in the same declaration.

Example: int[][] a [] b; ►Invalid

III. Array construction:

● Every array in java is an object hence we can create by using new operator.
 Example:

int[] a=new

int[3]; Diagram:

● For every array type corresponding classes are available but these classes
are part of java language and not available to the programmer
level.

Array Type Corresponding Class

Name
int[] [I

int[][] [[I

double[] [D

... ...

● Rules
1. At the time of array creation compulsory we should specify the
size otherwise we will get compile time error.

Example:

int[] a=new int[3];

int[] a=new int[]; ►C.E:array dimension missing

2. It is legal to have an array with size zero in

java. Example:
 int[] a=new int[0];

System.out.println(a.length); ►Output:0

3. If we are taking array size with -ve int value then we will get
runtime exception saying NegativeArraySizeException.

Example:

int[] a=new int[-3]; ►R.E:NegativeArraySizeException

4. The allowed data types to specify array size are byte, short, char,
int. By mistake if we are using any other type we will get compile
time error.

Example:

1. int[] a=new int['a']; ►Valid

byte b=10;
2. int[] a=new int[b]; ►Valid
3. short s=20;
int[] a=new int[s]; ►Valid
4. int[] a=new int[10l]; ►Invalid ►C.E:possible loss of precision
5. int[] a=new int[10.5]; ►Invalid ►C.E:possible loss of precision
5. The maximum allowed array size in java is maximum value of int
size [2147483647].

Example:

1. int[] a1=new int[2147483647];

►Valid
2. int[] a2=new int[2147483648];
►Invalid ►C.E:integer number too large: 2147483648

Two dimensional array creation:

● In java multidimensional arrays are implemented as array of arrays
approach but not matrix form.
● The main advantage of this approach is to improve memory utilization.
 Example 1:
int[][] a=new int[2]
[]; a[0]=new
int[3];
a[1]=new int[2];

Example 2:

int[][][] a=new int[2][][];

a[0]=new int[3][];

a[0][0]=new int[1];

a[0][1]=new int[2];

a[0][2]=new int[3];

a[1]=new int[2][2];

★ Which of the following declarations are valid?

1. int[] a=new int[] ►Invalid ►C.E: array dimension missing.
2. int[][] a=new int[3][4]; ►Valid
3. int[][] a=new int[3][]; ►Valid
4. int[][] a=new int[][4]; ►Invalid ►C.E: ']'
expected 5. int[][][] a=new int[3][4][5]; ►Valid
6. int[][][] a=new int[3][4][]; ►Valid
7. int[][][] a=new int[3][][5]; ►Invalid ►C.E: ']' expected

IV. Array initialization:

Whenever we are creating an array every element is initialized with

default value automatically.

Example 1:

int[] a=new int[3];

 System.out.println(a); ►[I@3e25a5

System.out.println(a[0]); ►0

★ Note: Whenever we are trying to print any object reference internally

toString() method will be executed which is implemented by default
to return the following.

classname@hexadecimalstringrepresentationofhashcode.

Example 2:

int [][] a= new int[2][3];

System.out.println(a); ►[I@3e25a5

System.out.println(a[0]); ►[I@19821f

System.out.println(a[0][0]); ►0

Example 3:

int[][] a=new int[2][];

 System.out.println(a); ►[[I@3e25a5

System.out.println(a[0]); ►null

System.out.println(a[0][0]); ►R.E:NullPointerException

● Once we created an array all its elements by default initialized with

default values. If we are not satisfied with those default values then we can
replays with our customized values.

Example:

int[] a=new

int[4]; a[0]=10;

a[1]=20;

a[2]=30;

a[3]=40;

a[4]=50; ►R.E:ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 4

a[-4]=60; ►R.E:ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: -4