CSE 1201
Object Oriented Programming
Using Classes and Objects
Acknowledgement
Course materials from Dr. Tagrul Dayar, Bilkent University
Creating Objects
A variable holds either a primitive type or a reference to an
object
A class name can be used as a type to declare an object
reference variable
String title;
No object is created with this declaration
An object reference variable holds the address of an object
The object itself must be created separately
Creating Objects
Generally, we use the new operator to create an object
title = new String ("Java Software Solutions");
This calls the String constructor, which is
a special method that sets up the object
Creating an object is called instantiation
An object is an instance of a particular class
Invoking Methods
We've seen that once an object has been instantiated, we
can use the dot operator to invoke its methods
count = title.length()
A method may return a value, which can be used in an
assignment or expression
A method invocation can be thought of as asking an
object to perform a service
References
Note that a primitive variable contains the value itself,
but an object variable contains the address of the object
An object reference can be thought of as a pointer to the
location of the object
Rather than dealing with arbitrary addresses, we often
depict a reference graphically
num1
name1
38
"Steve Jobs"
Assignment Revisited
The act of assignment takes a copy of a value and stores
it in a variable
For primitive types:
Before:
num1
38
num2
96
num2 = num1;
After:
num1
38
num2
38
Reference Assignment
For object references, assignment copies the address:
Before:
name1
"Steve Jobs"
name2
"Steve Wozniak"
name2 = name1;
After:
name1
name2
"Steve Jobs"
Aliases
Two or more references that refer to the same object are
called aliases of each other
That creates an interesting situation: one object can be
accessed using multiple reference variables
Aliases can be useful, but should be managed carefully
Changing an object through one reference changes it for all
of its aliases, because there is really only one object
Garbage Collection
When an object no longer has any valid references to it, it
can no longer be accessed by the program
The object is useless, and therefore is called garbage
Java performs automatic garbage collection periodically,
returning an object's memory to the system for future use
In other languages, the programmer is responsible for
performing garbage collection
The String Class
Because strings are so common, we don't have to use the
new operator to create a String object
title = "Java Software Solutions";
This is special syntax that works only for strings
Each string literal (enclosed in double quotes) represents a
String object
String Methods
Once a String object has been created, neither its
value nor its length can be changed
Thus we say that an object of the String class is
immutable
However, several methods of the String class return
new String objects that are modified versions of the
original
See the list of String methods on page 119 and in
Appendix M
You can also use the API documentation
String Indexes
It is occasionally helpful to refer to a particular character
within a string
This can be done by specifying the character's numeric
index
The indexes begin at zero in each string
In the string "Hello", the character 'H' is at index 0 and
the 'o' is at index 4
See StringMutation.java (page 120)
Example
String phrase = new String ("Change is inevitable");
String mutation1, mutation2, mutation3, mutation4;
System.out.println ("Original string: \"" + phrase + "\"");
System.out.println ("Length of string: " + phrase.length());
mutation1 = phrase.concat (", except from vending machines.");
mutation2 = mutation1.toUpperCase();
mutation3 = mutation2.replace ('E', 'X');
mutation4 = mutation3.substring (3, 30);
// Print each mutated string
System.out.println ("Mutation #1: " + mutation1);
System.out.println ("Mutation #2: " + mutation2);
System.out.println ("Mutation #3: " + mutation3);
System.out.println ("Mutation #4: " + mutation4);
System.out.println ("Mutated length: " + mutation4.length());
Class Libraries
A class library is a collection of classes that we can use when
developing programs
The Java standard class library is part of any Java
development environment
Its classes are not part of the Java language per se, but we
rely on them heavily
Various classes we've already used (System , Scanner,
String) are part of the Java standard class library
Other class libraries can be obtained through third party
vendors, or you can create them yourself
Packages
The classes of the Java standard class library are
organized into packages
Some of the packages in the standard class library are:
Package
Purpose
java.lang
General support
java.applet
Creating applets for the web
java.awt Graphics and graphical user interfaces
javax.swing
Additional graphics capabilities
java.net
Network communication
java.util
Utilities
javax.xml.parsers
XML document processing
The import Declaration
When you want to use a class from a package, you could
use its fully qualified name
java.util.Scanner;
java.util.Random;
Or you can import the class, and then use just the class name
import java.util.Scanner;
To import all classes in a particular package, you can use
the * wildcard character
import java.util.*;
The import Declaration
All classes of the java.lang package are imported
automatically into all programs
It's as if all programs contain the following line:
import java.lang.*;
That's why we didn't have to import the System or
String classes explicitly in earlier programs
The Scanner class, on the other hand, is part of the
java.util package, and therefore must be imported
The Random Class
The Random class is part of the java.util package
It provides methods that generate pseudorandom numbers
A Random object performs complicated calculations based
on a seed value to produce a stream of seemingly random
values
See RandomNumbers.java (page 126)
Random generator = new Random();
int num1;
float num2;
num1 = generator.nextInt();
System.out.println ("A random integer: " + num1);
num1 = generator.nextInt(10);
System.out.println ("From 0 to 9: " + num1);
num1 = generator.nextInt(15) + 20;
System.out.println ("From 20 to 34: " + num1);
num1 = generator.nextInt(20) - 10;
System.out.println ("From -10 to 9: " + num1);
num2 = generator.nextFloat();
System.out.println ("A random float [between 0-1]: " + num2);
num2 = generator.nextFloat() * 6; // 0.0 to 5.999999
num1 = (int) num2 + 1;
System.out.println ("From 1 to 6: " + num1);
Interactive Programs
Programs generally need input on which to operate
The Scanner class provides convenient methods for
reading input values of various types
A Scanner object can be set up to read input from various
sources, including the user typing values on the keyboard
Keyboard input is represented by the System.in object
Reading Input
The following line creates a Scanner object that reads from
the keyboard:
Scanner scan = new Scanner (System.in);
The new operator creates the Scanner object
Once created, the Scanner object can be used to invoke
various input methods, such as:
answer = scan.nextLine();
Reading Input
The Scanner class is part of the java.util class library,
and must be imported into a program to be used
See Echo.java (page 91)
The nextLine method reads all of the input until the end
of the line is found
The details of object creation and class libraries are
discussed further in Chapter 3
Echo.java
import java.util.Scanner;
public class Echo {
// Reads a character string from the user and prints it.
public static void main (String[] args) {
String message;
Scanner scan = new Scanner (System.in);
System.out.println ("Enter a line of text:");
message = scan.nextLine();
System.out.println ("You entered: \"" + message + "\"");
}
}
Input Tokens
Unless specified otherwise, white space is used to separate
the elements (called tokens) of the input
White space includes space characters, tabs, new line
characters
The next method of the Scanner class reads the next
input token and returns it as a string
Methods such as nextInt and nextDouble read data of
particular types
See GasMileage.java (page 92)
public static void main (String[] args) {
int miles;
double gallons, mpg;
Scanner scan = new Scanner (System.in);
System.out.print ("Enter the number of miles: ");
miles = scan.nextInt();
System.out.print ("Enter the gallons of fuel used: ");
gallons = scan.nextDouble();
mpg = miles / gallons;
System.out.println ("Miles Per Gallon: " + mpg);
}
The Math Class
The Math class is part of the java.lang package
The Math class contains methods that perform various
mathematical functions
These include:
absolute value
square root
exponentiation
trigonometric functions
The Math Class
The methods of the Math class are static methods (also
called class methods)
Static methods can be invoked through the class name no
object of the Math class is needed
value = Math.cos(90) + Math.sqrt(delta);
See Quadratic.java (page 129)
We discuss static methods further in Chapter 6
int a, b, c; // ax^2 + bx + c
double discriminant, root1, root2;
Scanner scan = new Scanner (System.in);
System.out.print ("Enter the coefficient of x squared: ");
a = scan.nextInt();
System.out.print ("Enter the coefficient of x: ");
b = scan.nextInt();
System.out.print ("Enter the constant: ");
c = scan.nextInt();
discriminant = Math.pow(b, 2) - (4 * a * c);
root1 = ((-1 * b) + Math.sqrt(discriminant)) / (2 * a);
root2 = ((-1 * b) - Math.sqrt(discriminant)) / (2 * a);
