COE 318
Introduction to Software Design
Lecture 04
Dr. Naimul Khan
Office: Virtual
Office Hour: By appointment
The String class
• One of the many examples of Java built-in
classes.
String String licensePlate;
object licensePlate= new String ("ABC 41");
String licensePlate="ABC 41";
String String licensePlate2="ABC 41";
//A special case only for Strings
literal //new memory is not allocated if same string, existing
//string is used
String licensePlate;
licensePlate= new String ("ABC 41");
char a= licensePlate.charAt(2); //index starts at zero
String extendedPlate= licensePlate.concat("564");
int b= licensePlate.length();
String newPlate= extendedPlate.replace('4', '0');
String licensePlate;
licensePlate= new String ("ABC 41");
String subPlate= licensePlate.substring(1);
String subPlate2= licensePlate.substring(1,2);
String subPlate3= licensePlate.substring(1,8);
//also check out toLowerCase() and toUpperCase()
Comparing variables - floats
• Floats need to be matched EXACTLY- not
possible sometimes due to approximations
on the hardware
• Solution: Define a variable TOLERANCE
with a small value (e.g. 0.00000001). then:
if(Math.abs(a-b)<TOLERANCE){
}
Comparing variables - chars
• 16 bit unicode for all characters
• 38885 characters currently are defined with
Unicode values.
• The low 8 bits can be used for ASCII.
if('0'<'L'){
}
Comparing variables - Strings
• Remember, String variables are references.
• References CAN be compared with the
"==" operator, but the result won't be what
you expect. Why?
String name1 = new String("Lewis");
String name2 = new String("Lewis");
if(name1==name2){
//condition will be evaluated to false
String name1 = new String("Lewis");
String name2 = new String("Lewis");
name1=name2;
if(name1==name2){
//condition will be evaluated to true
String name1 = "Lewis";
String name2 = "Lewis";
if(name1==name2){
//condition will be evaluated to true
//String literals use String pool, no new
//memory allocated if the strings are the same
}
String name1 = new String("Lewis");
String name2 = new String("Lewis");
if(name1.equals(name2)){ The equals()
//condition will be evaluated to true method
}
Also check the compareTo() method
Comparing objects
public class Car {
String licensePlate;
double speed;
double maxSpeed;
public Car(String plateNumber, double speedVal, double maxVal){
licensePlate=plateNumber;
speed=speedVal;
maxSpeed=maxVal;
}
}
Comparing objects with ==
public class CarTest {
public static void main(String[] args){
Car miniVan = new Car("ABC", 50, 100);
Car sedan=new Car("ABC", 50, 100);
if(sedan==miniVan){
//condition will be evaluated to false
}
}
}
Comparing objects with equals()
public class CarTest {
public static void main(String[] args){
Car miniVan = new Car("ABC", 50, 100);
Car sedan=new Car("ABC", 50, 100);
if(sedan.equals(miniVan)){
//condition will STILL be evaluated to false
}
}
}
What we really want to do is..
public class CarTest {
public static void main(String[] args){
Car miniVan = new Car("ABC", 50, 100);
Car sedan=new Car("ABC", 50, 100);
if(sedan.licensePlate.equals(miniVan.licensePlate) &&
sedan.speed==miniVan.speed && sedan.maxSpeed==miniVan.maxSpeed){
//condition will be evaluated to true
}
}
}
Parameter passing in
Java Methods
• If the parameter is of primitive data type,
parameter is passed by value – changing the
parameter value inside the method has no
effect on the original value
Parameter passing by value
public static void main(String [] args){
double d = 2.0;
changeMe(d);
System.out.println(d);
}
public void changeMe(double d)
{
//this has no effect on d outside of this method!
d = 345.0;
}
Parameter passing in
Java Methods
• However, If the parameter is an object,
parameter is passed by reference – changing
the parameter value inside the method
changes the original value
Parameter passing by reference
public static void main(String[] args){
Car miniVan = new Car("ABC", 50, 100);
changeParameters(miniVan);
System.out.println(miniVan.speed);
}
public void changeParameters(Car c)
{
//changes the car’s speed outside this method!
c.speed=30;
}
Linking objects (Lab 3)
• A variable can hold a reference to another
object. When one object contains a variable
that refers to another object, we think of the
objects as being "linked" by the reference.
• Any variable that can contain a reference to
an object can also contain the special value
null, which refers to nowhere.
Linking objects (Lab 3)
• Example: A class designed to represent
employees at a company. Suppose that
every employee except the CEO has a
supervisor. CEO is another employee of the
company. Then the Employee class would
naturally contain an instance variable of
type Employee that points to the employee's
supervisor:
The Employee Class
class Employee {
// An object of type Employee holds data about one employee.
String name; // Name of the employee.
Employee supervisor; // The employee's supervisor.
Employee (String name, Employee supervisor)
{ this.name = name;
this.supervisor = supervisor;
}
// other methods
}
The Employee Class
class EmployeeTest{
public static void main(String[] args){
Employee emp, emp1;
emp1 = new Employee("Stacey", null);
emp = new Employee("Gavin", emp1); .
if ( emp.supervisor == null) {
System.out.println(emp.name " is the CEO!");}
else {//Since we are checking emp, this line will be printed
System.out.println( "The supervisor of " + emp.name + " is
" + emp.supervisor.name );
}
Practice problems - find output
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println(1 + 6 + 8);
System.out.println("dd" + ((1 > 5) ? "c" : "b"));
System.out.println("a" + (6 + 1) + 3);
System.out.println(7 + "" + (2 > 3));
}
Complete the Airport class based on output
public class Airport {
// Class fields (instance variables) and methods
public static void main(String[] args) {
Airport quizairport;
quizairport = new Airport(5); // creating object with constructor Airport(no. of gates)
for (int i=0; i<5; i++)
quizairport.addPassengers(i,(20*i+3)); // addPassengers
//(gate no., no. of passengers at the gate) to add no. of passengers to a gate
quizairport.printPassengers(); // print gate number and no. of
// passengers at the gate
}}
The output of the program is:
Number of passengers at Gate 1 is 3
Number of passengers at Gate 2 is 23
Number of passengers at Gate 3 is 43
Number of passengers at Gate 4 is 63
Number of passengers at Gate 5 is 83
class Coord { int x, y; Find output
public Coord(int x, int y) { this.x = x;
this.y = y;
}}
class Quiz {
public static void main(String args[])
{ Coord original[], alias[];
original = new Coord[6];
int i = 0;
while (i < original.length) {
original[i] = new Coord(i, original.length - i);
i++; }
i = 0;
while (i < original.length) {
original[i] = original[i + 1];
i += 2; }
alias = original; alias[3].y = alias[0].x;
System.out.println(original[0].x + "," +
original[0].y); System.out.println(alias[3].x + "," +
alias[3].y);
}}
