Classes in Java

Rajam Naidu
What is a Class?

• A class is a group of objects that share the same properties and

methods. It is a template or blueprint from which objects are
created. A class is used to define new type of the data. The
objects are the instances of class. Once a class is defined, this
becomes a new type and can be used to create objects of its
type. The class is the logical entity , the object is the logical and
physical entity.
The general form of the class
class classname { type method2(parameterlist) {
type instance-variable1; //body of the method2 }
type instance-variable2; ……..
……….. …….
….……. type methodN(parameterlist) {
type instance-variableN; //body of the methodN
type method1(parameterlist) { }
//body of the method1
} }
Instance members

• The data or variables, defined within the class are called,

instance variables.

• The methods also contain the code.

• The methods and instance variables collectively called as

members.

• Variable declared within the methods are called local variables.

A Simple Class
• Let’s begin our study of the class Student {
class with a simple example. //instance variables
Here is a class called Student
that defines three instance int sid;
variables: sid, sname, and String sname;
branch. Currently, Student does
not contain any methods. String branch;
• As stated, a class defines new }
data type. The new data type in
this example is, Student. This
defines the template, but does
not actually create object.
Creating the Object - 1
• There are three steps when • Step 1: Student s;
creating an object from a class: • Declares the class variable.
• Declaration: A variable Here the class variable contains
declaration with a variable name the value null. An attempt to
with an object type. access the object at this point
• Instantiation: The 'new' key will lead to Compile-Time error.
word is used to create the
object.
• Initialization: The 'new' keyword
is followed by a call to a
constructor.
Creating the Object - 2
• There are three steps when • Step 2:
creating an object from a class: • Student s=new Student();
• Declaration: A variable • Here new is the keyword used to
declaration with a variable name create the object. The object
with an object type. name is s. The new operator
• Instantiation: The 'new' key allocates the memory for the
word is used to create the object, that means for all
object. instance variables inside the
• Initialization: The 'new' keyword object, memory is allocated.
is followed by a call to a
constructor.
Creating the Object - 3
• There are three steps when • Student Object Step 3:
creating an object from a class: • There are many ways to
• Declaration: A variable initialize the object.
declaration with a variable name • The object contains the
with an object type. instance variable.
• Instantiation: The 'new' key • The variable can be assigned
word is used to create the values with reference of the
object. object.
• Initialization: The 'new' keyword • s.sid=1234;
is followed by a call to a
constructor. • s.sname=”Anand”;
• s.branch=”IT”;
Class usage
class StudentDemo { s.sname=”Anand”;
public static void main(String s.branch=”IT”;
args[]) { // display student details
//declaring the object (Step 1) System.out.println(std.sid"
and instantiating (Step 2) object "+std.sname+" "+std.branch);
Student std = new Student(); }
// assign values to std’s }
instance variables (Step 3)
s.sid=1234;
Assigning Object Reference
Student s1 = new Student();
Student s2 = s1;

Here s1 and s2 are referring to the same object.

Methods - 1

• Methods in a class are functions written in a class, performing

some operation on the object.

type methodName(parameter-list) {

body of method ;

return value;

}
Methods – 1 cont
class Student { System.out.println("Student ID“ + sid);

int sid; System.out.println("Student Name: “ +

String sname; sname); System.out.println("Branch:“

+ branch);
String branch;
}
Int sub1, sub2, sub3;
}
show() {
Methods - 2
class Student { public void show() {
int sid; System.out.println("Student
ID"+sid);
String sname; System.out.println("Student
String branch; Name: "+sname);
int sub1, sub2, sub3; System.out.println("Branch:"+bra
nch);
public float percentage() {
}
return (sub1+ sub2+sub3)/3;
}
}
Method overloading - 1

• In Java it is possible to define two or more methods within the

same class that share the same name, as long as their
parameter declarations are different. In this case, the methods
are said to be overloaded, and the process is referred to as
method overloading. Method overloading is one of the ways
that Java supports polymorphism.
Method overloading - 2
• When an overloaded method is invoked, Java looks for a match
between arguments of the methods to determine which version of
the overloaded method to actually call.
• While overloaded methods may have different return types, the
return type alone is insufficient to distinguish two versions of a
method. •
• When Java encounters a call to an overloaded method, it simply
executes the version of the method whose parameters match the
arguments used in the call.
• When an overloaded method is invoked, Method overloading
supports polymorphism because it is one way that Java implements
the ―one interface, multiple methods‖ paradigm.
Constructors

• A constructor is a special member function used for automatic

initialization of an object. Whenever an object is created, the
constructor is called automatically. Constructors can be
overloaded.
Constructor characteristics
• Constructors have the same name as that of the class they
belong to.
• They automatically execute whenever an object is created.
• Constructors will not have any return type even void.
• Constructors will not return any values.
• The main function of constructor is to initialize objects and
allocation of memory to the objects.
• Constructors can be overloaded.
• A constructor without any arguments is called as default
constructor
Parameterized Constructors

• It may be necessary to initialize the various data members of

different objects with different values when they are created.

• This is achieved by passing arguments to the constructor

function when the objects are created.

• The constructors that can take arguments are called

parameterized constructors.
Constructor Overloading
• In Java, it is possible to define two or more class constructors
that share the same name, as long as their parameter
declarations are different. This is called constructor
overloading.
• When an overloaded constructor is invoked, Java uses the type
and/or number of arguments as its guide to determine which
version of the overloaded constructor to actually call.
• Thus, overloaded constructors must differ in the type and/or
number of their parameters.
Garbage Collection -1
• Since objects are dynamically allocated by using the new
operator, such objects are destroyed and their memory released
for later reallocation. Java handles de-allocation for you
automatically. The technique that accomplishes this is called
garbage collection. Java has its own set of algorithms to do this
as follow. There are Two Techniques:
1. Reference Counter
2. Mark and Sweep.
Garbage Collection -2

• In the Reference Counter technique, when an object is created

along with it a reference counter is maintained in the memory.
When the object is referenced, the reference counter is
incremented by one.

• If the control flow is moved from that object to some other

object, then the counter value is decremented by one. When the
counter reaches to zero (0), then it's memory is reclaimed.
Garbage Collection -3

• In the Mark and Sweep technique, all the objects that are in use
are marked and are called live objects and are moved to one
end of the memory. This process we call it as compaction. The
memory occupied by remaining objects is reclaimed. After
these objects are deleted from the memory, the live objects are
placed in side by side location in the memory. This is called
copying.
The finalize() Method
• Sometimes an object will need to perform some action when it is
destroyed. For example, if an object is holding some non-Java
resource such as a file handle or character font, then you might want
to make sure these resources are freed before an object is
destroyed. To handle such situations, Java provides a mechanism
called finalization. By using finalization, you can define specific
actions that will occur when an object is just about to be reclaimed
by the garbage collector.
Static Keyword - 1
• There will be times when you will want to define a class
member that will be used independently of any object of that
class. To create such a member, precede its declaration with
the keyword static.
• The static keyword in java is used for memory management
mainly.
• We can apply java static keyword with variables, methods,
blocks and nested class.
• The static keyword belongs to the class than instance of the
class.
Static Keyword - 2
• The static can be:
• variables (also known as class variables)
• methods (also known as class methods)
• block
• nested class
• The most common example of a static member is main().
• main( ) is declared as static because it must be called before
any objects exist.
Java static variable

• If you declare any variable as static, it is known static variable.

• The static variable can be used to refer the common property of

all objects (that is unique for each object) e.g. company name
of employees, college name of students etc.

• The static variable gets memory only once in class area at the
time of class loading.
Static Variable Usage
class Student {
int rollno;
String name;
Static String college=“Rishi IT"; }
Counter using static variable
As we have mentioned above, System.out.println(count);
static variable will get the memory }
only once, if any object changes
the value of the static variable, it public static void main(String
will retain its value. args[]) {
class Counter { Counter c1=new Counter();
Counter c2=new Counter();
//will get memory only once and Counter c3=new Counter();
retain its value
}
static int count=0;
}
Counter( ) {
count++;
Java static method - 1
• If you apply static keyword with any method, it is known as
static method.
• A static method belongs to the class rather than object of a
class.
• A static method can be invoked without the need for creating an
instance of a class.
• Static method can access static data member and can change
the value of it.
Java static method - 2

• There are three main restrictions for the static method. They
are:
1. They cannot call non-static methods.

2. They cannot access non-static data.

3. They cannot refer to this or super in any way

Static method cube of a number
class Calculate {
static int cube(int x) {
return x*x*x;
}
public static void main(String args[]) {
int result = Calculate.cube(5);
System.out.println(result);
}
}
class Student { "+college); }
int rollno; public static void main(String args[]) {
String name; Student.change();
//static variable Student s1 = new
static String college = “JNTU,H"; Student(1211,"Akshara");
//static method Student s2 = new Student
(1222,"Chaitanya");
static void change();
Student s3 = new Student
{ college = “Rishi IT"; } (1233,"Krishna");
Student(int r, String n) { s1.display();
rollno = r; s2.display();
name = n; s3.display();
} }
void display () { }
System.out.println(rollno+" "+name+"
class Student
{
int rollno; public static void main(String args[])
String name; {
static String college = "JNTU,H"; //static variable Student.change();
static void change() //static method Student s1 = new Student
{ (1211,"Akshara");
college = "VVIT"; Student s2 = new Student
} (1222,"Chaitanya");
Student(int r, String n) Student s3 = new Student
{ (1233,"Krishna");
rollno = r; s1.display(); 14
name = n; s2.display();
} s3.display();
void display () }
{ }
System.out.println(rollno+" "+name+"
"+college);