● 10 Creating your own Classes

● Objectives

At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:

● Create their own classes

● Declare attributes and methods for their classes

● Use the this reference to access instance data

● Create and call overloaded methods

● Import and create packages

● Use access modifiers to control access to class members

● Defining your own classes

● To define a class, we write:

<modifier> class <name> {

<attributeDeclaration>*

<constructorDeclaration>*

<methodDeclaration>*

– where

● <modifier> is an access modifier, which may be combined with other types of

● Example

public class StudentRecord {

– where,

● public - means that our class is accessible to other classes outside the package

● class - this is the keyword used to create a class in Java

● StudentRecord - a unique identifier that describes our class

● Coding Guidelines

● Think of an appropriate name for your class. Don't just call your class XYZ or any random names
you can think of.
 ● Class names should start with a CAPITAL letter.

● The filename of your class should have the SAME NAME as your class name.

● Declaring Attributes

● To declare a certain attribute for our class, we write,

<modifier> <type> <name> [= <default_value>];

● Instance Variables

public class StudentRecord {

private String name;

private String address;

private int age;

private double mathGrade;

private double englishGrade;

private double scienceGrade;

private double average;

//we'll add more code here later

– where,

● private here means that the variables are only accessible within the class. Other
objects cannot access these variables directly.

● Coding Guidelines

● Declare one variable for each line.

● Instance variables, like any other variables should start with a SMALL letter.

● Use an appropriate data type for each variable you declare.

● Declare instance variables as private so that only class methods can access them directly.

● Class (static) variables

public class StudentRecord {

//instance variables we have declared

private static int studentCount;

//we'll add more code here later

– we use the keyword static to indicate that a variable is a static variable.

● Declaring Methods

● To declare methods we write,

<modifier> <returnType> <name>(<parameter>*) {

<statement>*

– where,

● <modifier> can carry a number of different modifiers

● <returnType> can be any data type (including void)

● <name> can be any valid identifier

● <parameter> ::= <parameter_type> <parameter_name>[,]

● Accessor Methods

● Accessor methods

– used to read values from our class variables (instance/static).

– usually written as:

get<NameOfInstanceVariable>

– It also returns a value.

● Example 1

public class StudentRecord {

private String name;

public String getName(){

return name;

– where,

● public - means that the method can be called from objects outside the class
 ● String - is the return type of the method. This means that the method should
return a value of type String

● getName - the name of the method

● () - this means that our method does not have any parameters

● Example 2

public class StudentRecord {

private String name;

public double getAverage(){

double result = 0;

result=(mathGrade+englishGrade+scienceGrade)/3;

return result;

● Multiple return statements

● You can have multiple return statements for a method as long as they are not on the same
block.

● You can also use constants to return values instead of variables.

● Static methods

public class StudentRecord {

private static int studentCount;

public static int getStudentCount(){

return studentCount;

– where,

● public- means that the method can be called from objects outside the class

● static-means that the method is static and should be called by

● getStudentCount- the name of the method

● ()- this means that our method does not have any parameters

● Coding Guidelines

● Method names should start with a SMALL letter.

● Method names should be verbs

● Always provide documentation before the declaration of the method. You can use javadocs style
for this. Please see example.

● Source Code for class StudentRecord

public class StudentRecord {

private String name;

private String address;

private int age;

private double mathGrade;

private double englishGrade;

private double scienceGrade;

private double average;

private static int studentCount;

● Source Code for class StudentRecord

/**

* Returns the name of the student

*/

public String getName(){

return name;

/**

* Changes the name of the student

*/
public void setName( String temp ){

name = temp;

● Source Code for class StudentRecord

/**

* Computes the average of the english, math and science

* grades

*/

public double getAverage(){

double result = 0;

result = ( mathGrade+englishGrade+scienceGrade )/3;

return result;

/**

* returns the number of instances of StudentRecords

*/

public static int getStudentCount(){

return studentCount;

● Overloading Methods

● Method overloading

– allows a method with the same name but different parameters, to have different
implementations and return values of different types

– can be used when the same operation has different implementations.

● Always remember that overloaded methods have the following properties:

– the same name

– different parameters

– return types can be different or the same

● Constructors
 ● Constructors are important in instantiating an object. It is a method where all the initializations
are placed.

● The following are the properties of a constructor:

– Constructors have the same name as the class

– A constructor is just like an ordinary method, however only the following information
can be placed in the header of the constructor,

– scope or accessibility identifier (like public...), constructor's name and parameters if it

– Constructors does not have any return value

– You cannot call a constructor directly, it can only be called by using the new operator
during class instantiation.

● Constructors

● To declare a constructor, we write,

<modifier> <className> (<parameter>*) {

<statement>*

● Default Constructor

● The default constructor

– is the constructor without any parameters.

– If the class does not specify any constructors, then an implicit default constructor is
created.

● Example

public StudentRecord()

//some code here

● Overloading Constructors

public StudentRecord(){

//some initialization code here

}
public StudentRecord(String temp){

this.name = temp;

public StudentRecord(String name, String address){

this.name = name;

this.address = address;

public StudentRecord(double mGrade, double eGrade,

double sGrade){

mathGrade = mGrade;

englishGrade = eGrade;

scienceGrade = sGrade;

● Using Constructors

● To use these constructors, we have the following code,

public static void main( String[] args ){

//create three objects for Student record

StudentRecord annaRecord=new StudentRecord("Anna");

StudentRecord beahRecord=new StudentRecord("Beah",

"Philippines");

StudentRecord crisRecord=new StudentRecord(80,90,100);

//some code here

● Access Modifiers

● There are four different types of member access modifiers in Java:

– public

– private

– protected

– Default
 ● The first three access modifiers are explicitly written in the code to indicate the access type, for
the fourth one which is default, no keyword is used.

● default accessibility

● Default access

– specifies that only classes in the same package can have access to the class' variables
and methods

– no actual keyword for the default modifier; it is applied in the absence of an access
modifier.

● Example

public class StudentRecord {

//default access to instance variable

int name;

//default access to method

String getName(){

return name;

● public accessibility

● public access

– specifies that class members are accessible to anyone, both inside and outside the class.

– Any object that interacts with the class can have access to the public members of the
class.

– Keyword: public

● Example

public class StudentRecord {

//default access to instance variable

public int name;

//default access to method

public String getName(){

return name;
}

● protected accessibility

● protected access

– specifies that the class members are accessible only to methods in that class and the
subclasses of the class.

– Keyword: protected

● Example

public class StudentRecord {

//default access to instance variable

protected int name;

//default access to method

protected String getName(){

return name;

● private accessibility

● private accessibility

– specifies that the class members are only accessible by the class they are defined in.

– Keyword: private

● Example

public class StudentRecord {

//default access to instance variable

private int name;

//default access to method

private String getName(){

return name;

}
● Coding Guidelines

● The instance variables of a class should normally be declared private, and the class will just
provide accessor and mutator methods to these variables.

● Summary

● Defining your own classes

● Declaring Fields (instance, static/class)

● Declaring Methods (accessor, mutator, static)

● Returning values and Multiple return statements

● The this reference

● Overloading Methods

● Constructors (default, overloading, this() call)

● Packages

● Access Modifiers (default, public, private, protected)