Introduction to Java

15-121 Fall 2020

Margaret Reid-Miller
 Academic Integrity
• You must do your own work.
• Discussion with other students is limited to
clarifying the assignments or at a high non-
code level (pictures).
• If you need help, ask the course staff or me
(see the Staff page for office hours).
• You should never look at another person’s
program nor allow another student to look
at your program (except recitation labs).

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 What if I cheat on a assignment?
• Record a negative score on the assignment.
• Reduce your final semester letter grade.
• Prevent you from dropping, withdrawing, or
changing to pass/fail.
• Send letters to Student Affairs, your advisor,
various deans, etc.
• May result in long-term suspension.

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 Life happens
So I give you some late days. How many late
days in total? 4
How many late days can you use for a single
assignment?
2
What is the penalty for turning an assignment
late when you run out of late days?

No credit, so always submit something on time

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 Quizzes

• When is our first quiz?

Tomorrow
• How often do we have a quiz?
Every Thursday
• How many quizzes will be counted?
10 (1-2 will be dropped)
• Can your arrange to make up a quiz?
You can’t, but each is worth only 0.5%

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 Java vs Python
• Program Translation:
• Java is compiled, Python is interpreted
• Java syntax:
• Uses braces {} to group statements (indentation
is not semantic, but recommended)
• Most statements end in semi-colons.
• Java programs:
• Often have several classes, each in a file with
same name.
• Java programs start with the method main.

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 There is no required textbook.

• I will post related readings, however, from a

free on-line text book Introduction to
Programming Using Java by David J. Eck that
you may find helpful for your understanding.

• You are welcome to use other books on data

structures using Java.

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 Today
• Data types (primitive/reference)
• Basic Operators
• Variable declaration
• Strings

• Before next lecture, review and compare

syntax of LetterCounter1.java and
LetterCounter1.py

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Java requires that you declare the type
of each variable before it is used.
• You also need to declare the type of the expression
return from a method
Basic types:
boolean (true or false)
int (integer)
double (floating point decimal)
String (sequence of characters)
…
void return type of a method that returns no value

• Java checks that the types match when you compile.

Compiler error messages often indicate a type mismatch.
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 Primitive Data Types
• Java has two categories of data:
• primitive data (e.g., number, character)
• object data (programmer created types)

• There are 8 primitive data types:

byte, short, int, long, float, double,
char, boolean

• Primitive data are only single values; they have no

special capabilities

• You cannot define new primitive data types.

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 Common Basic Types

Type Description Example of Literals

integers (whole
int 42, 60634, -8, 0
numbers)

double real numbers 0.039, -10.2, 4.2E+72

char single characters 'a', 'B', '&', '6'

boolean logical values true, false

String List of characters "", "a", "ab6&"

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 Mostly use int and double

Type Storage Range of Values

byte 8 bits -128 to 127

short 16 bits -32,768 to 32,727

int 32 bits -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647

long 64 bits -9x1018 to 9x1018

float 32 bits ±10-45 to ±1038, 7 significant digits

double 64 bits ±10-324 to ±10308, 15 significant digits

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 Recall
• What is 210 in base 10, approximately?
103
• 220 ?
1 million
• 230 ?
1 billion
• 232 ?
4 billion

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 Note the limited range of int

Type Storage Range of Values

byte 8 bits -128 to 127

short 16 bits -32,768 to 32,727

int 32 bits -2 billion to 2 billion, approximately

long 64 bits -9x1018 to 9x1018

float 32 bits ±10-45 to ±1038, only 7 significant digits!

double 64 bits ±10-324 to ±10308, 15 significant digits

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 Basic Operators

Type Description Operators

int integers +, -, *, /, %, ++, --

double real numbers +, -, *, /

char single characters +, - (int arithmetic)

relational ==, !=, <, >, <=, >=

boolean
logical ! , &&, ||

String Strings + (concatenation)

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 Before you can use a variable,
you must declare its type.

• You can declare a variable only once in a

method.

• Examples:
int numDimes;
double length; camelCase is the
Java convention
char courseSection;
boolean done;
String lastName;

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 Declaring Variables
• Declaring a variable instructs the compiler to set
aside a portion of memory large enough to hold data
of that type.
int count;
double length;

count length

• No value has be put in memory yet. That is, the

variable is undefined.

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 Assignment Statements
• An assignment statement stores a value into a
variable's memory location:
<variable> = <expression>;
• The type of the variable and expression must match.
• The first assignment to a variable initializes it.

count = 3; count 3
length = 72.3 + 2.0; length 74.3

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 Assignment statements shortcuts
int n;
n = 0; int n = 0;

n = n + 1; n += 1; n++;
n = n - 1; n -= 1; n--;

Other assignment operators:

*=, /=, %=

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 Strings
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/lang/String.html

• String is not a primitive type, but a class/type

• String variables store references to memory
addresses
• Strings are immutable! That is, you cannot change a
string, but you can assign a new string to a variable.
• A string cannot span more than one line:
"Not a valid WRONG!
String literal”

How do you include a newline or single quote in a string?

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 As with Python, Java has escape
sequences
Escape sequence: a two-character sequence that
represent a single special character.

Sequence Meaning
\t tab character
\n newline character
\" double quote
\' single quote
\\ backslash character

System.out.println(
"What \"character\" is this \\? ");
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 An object of type String is a
sequence of (unicode) characters.

• When we declare a variable of type String, it does

not create an object.
founder null
String founder;
• To create an object we use the new operator:
founder = new String("Carnegie");
initializes its state
• Strings have a shortcut way of creating them:
String founder2 = "Mellon";

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 Object vs Primitive Data
• A primitive variable holds an actual value:

int count = 15121; count 15121

• An object variable holds a reference (address) to the

object.
String founder = new String("Carnegie");
a35f3cd
"Carnegie" object data
founder a35f3cd
length() object methods
reference: computer substring()
generated address …
A String object

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 String Length
method header
int length()
• int indicates that the data type of the value the
method returns.
• Returns the number of characters in this string.

• Example:
String founder = "Carnegie";
int numChar = founder.length();
object dot operator method

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 Getting a single character
char charAt(int index)
Returns the character at a specified index
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
C a r n e g i e M e l l o n
Example:
String school = "Carnegie Mellon";
char firstChar = school.charAt(0);

WARNING: You cannot assign a char to an object of type String

without first converting the char to a String object !
e.g., String initial = "" + firstChar;

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 An example of
method overloading,
Substrings where the number of
parameters differs.

String substring(int startIndex, int endIndex)

String substring(int startIndex)
Returns a new string consisting of the substring starting at
startIndex (inclusive) and ending at endIndex (exclusive)
or, if one parameter, to the last character.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
C a r n e g i e M e l l o n

Example:
String school = "Carnegie Mellon";
String founder = school.substring(0, 8);
String founder2 = school.substring(9);
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 Replacing Characters
String replace(char oldChar, char newChar)
Returns a new String object resulting from replacing
every occurrence of oldChar with newChar.
• The original String object is unchanged.
(Strings are immutable!)

Example:
String founder = "Carnegie";
System.out.println( OUTPUT:
CarnEgiE
founder.replace('e', 'E')); Carnegie
System.out.println(founder);
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 Changing Case
String toUpperCase()
Returns a new String object with all letters
converted to uppercase.

String toLowerCase()
Returns a new String object with all letters
converted to lowercase.
Immutable: You
need to print or
Example: assign the result to
String founder = "Carnegie"; a variable!
String upper = founder.toUpperCase();
String lower = founder.toLowerCase();

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 Equals
boolean equals(String str)
Returns true if str represents the same sequence of
characters as this string.

Example:
String founder = "Carnegie";
founder.equals(“Carnegie”); // returns true
founder.equals(“carnegie”); // returns false

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 Testing For Equality
• For primitive values use == for equality testing.
• For objects, use the equals method for testing
equal contents.
• The argument must be the same type as the object on which
equals() is called.

• For example:
if (day == 1 && month.equals(“APRIL”)) {
System.out.println(“It’s April Fool’s Day”);
}

WARNING: Never use == with strings! The

results are unpredictable!
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 Compare the lexicographical
order of two strings
int compareTo(String str)
Returns:
• value < 0 if this string is “less than” str
• value = 0 if they are equal
• value > 0 if this string is “greater than” str

Example:
“mellon”.compareTo(“carnegie”); // returns positive #
“Mellon”.compareTo(“mellon”); // returns negative #

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