OBJECT PASSING

PRIMITIVE PARAMETERS

 Primitive types: boolean, byte, char, short, int, long,

float, double
 In Java, all primitives are passed by value. This

means a copy of the value is passed into the

method
 Modifying the primitive parameter in the method

does NOT change its value outside the method

 OBJECT PARAMETERS

 Objects can be passed natively, just like primitives

Class Complex { • Public class ComplexTest {
Private double real; void main()
Private double imag; {
Complex C1 = new
Public Complex() // Default Constructor Complex(11, 2.3);
{ real = 0.0; imag = 0.0; } Complex C2 = new
Complex(9, 2.3);
Public Complex (double r, double im) C1.show();
C2.show();
{ real = r; imag = im; }
Complex C3 = C1.Add(C2);
C3.show();
Public Complex Add (Complex b)
{ }
Double r= this.real + b.real; }
Double i = imag + b.imag;
Complex c_new = new Complex (r,i);
return c_new;
}
Public void Show ()
{
System.out,println( real + imag);
OBJECTS ARE PASSED BY VALUE
 It is often misstated that Object parameters are
passed by Reference.
 While it is true that the parameter is a reference to

an Object, the reference itself is passed by Value.

1. public class ObjectPass {
2. public int value;

3. public void increment(ObjectPass a){

4. a.value++;
5.

6. }

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

8. ObjectPass p = new ObjectPass();
9. p.value = 5;
10. System.out.println("Before calling: " + p.value);
11. increment(p);
12. System.out.println("After calling: " + p.value);
13. }
14. }
OUTPUT
 Before calling: 5
After calling: 6
 The point here is that what we pass exactly is
a handle of an object, and in the called
method a new handle created and pointed to
the same object.
 Now when more than one handles tied to the

same object, it is known as aliasing.

 From the example above you can see that
both p and a refer to the same object
 To prove this try to System.out.println(p) and

System.out.println(a) you will see the same

address.
 This is the default way Java does when
passing the handle to a called method,
create alias.
 When you pass argument just to manipulate

its value and not doing any changes to it,

then you are safe.
BEWARE…..
 public void tricky (Point pa, Point pb)
 {
 Point ptemp = new Point ();
 ptemp = pb;
 pb= pa;
 pa= ptemp;
 System.out.println("X: " + pa.x + " Y: " +pa.y);

System.out.println("X: " + + pb.x + " Y: " + pb.y);

}

 public static void main(String [] args)

 {
 Point pnt1 = new Point(1,2);
 Point pnt2 = new Point(3,4);
 System.out.println("X: " + pnt1.x + " Y: " +pnt1.y);
System.out.println("X: " + pnt2.x + " Y: " +pnt2.y);
System.out.println(" "); tricky(pnt1,pnt2);
 System.out.println("X: " + pnt1.x + " Y:" + pnt1.y);
System.out.println("X: " + pnt2.x + " Y: " +pnt2.y);

 The method “tricky” is not performing
swapping of object passed by main(), it
swaps the objects in the function “tricky”
 THE EQUALS METHOD
 When the == operator is used with
reference variables, the memory
address of the objects are compared.
 The contents of the objects are not

compared.
 All objects have an equals method.

 The default operation of the equals

method is to compare memory

addresses of the objects (just like the ==
9-
operator). 16
 THE EQUALS METHOD
 The Stock class has an equals method.
 If we try the following:

Stock stock1 = new Stock("GMX", 55.3);

Stock stock2 = new Stock("GMX", 55.3);
if (stock1 == stock2) // This is a mistake.
System.out.println("The objects are the same.");
else
System.out.println("The objects are not the same.");

only the addresses of the objects are compared.

9-
17
 THE EQUALS METHOD
 Instead of using the == operator to compare
two Stock objects, we should use the equals
method.
public boolean equals(Stock object2)
{
boolean status;

if(symbol.equals(Object2.symbol) && sharePrice == Object2.sharePrice)

status = true;
else
status = false;
return status;
}

 Now, objects can be compared by their

contents rather than by their memory 9-
addresses. 18
 METHODS THAT COPY OBJECTS
 There are two ways to copy an object.
 Youcannot use the assignment operator to
copy reference types

 Reference only copy (shallow Copy)

 This is simply copying the address of an object into
another reference variable.
Stock stock1 = new Stock("GMX", 55.3);
Stock stock2 = stock1;

Deep copy (correct)

 This involves creating a new instance of the class and
copying the values from one object into the new 9-
object. 19
 COPY CONSTRUCTORS
 A copy constructor accepts an existing object of the same
class and clones it

public Stock(Stock object2)

{
if (object2 == null) //Not a real stock.
{
System.out.println("Fatal Error.");
System.exit(0);
}
this.symbol = object2.symbol;
this.sharePrice = object2.sharePrice;
}

// Create a Stock object

Stock company1 = new Stock("XYZ", 9.62);

//Create company2, a copy of company1

9-
Stock company2 = new Stock(company1);
20
IMPORTANT POINTS
 Calling object is always present in the function
 If another object is required for the operation of a
method , we need to pass it through the argument.

 Class name is a user defined type.

 Class references can be used as function argument
 Class references can be returned from Functions

 Object is a composite entity

 Do not apply any arithmetic and logical operation
on object name directly.