Chapter 3

Introduction to Classes,
Objects Methods and Strings
Java™ How to Program, 9/e

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3.1 Introduction
 Covered in this chapter
 Classes
 Objects
 Methods
 Parameters
 double primitive type

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3.2 Declaring a Class with a Method
and Instantiating an Object of a Class
 Create a new class (GradeBook)
 Use it to create an object.
 Each class declaration that begins with keyword

public must be stored in a file that has the same

name as the class and ends with the .java file-name
extension.
 Keyword public is an access modifier.
 Indicates that the class is “available to the public”

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3.2 Declaring a Class with a Method and
Instantiating an Object of a Class (Cont.)
 The main method is called automatically by the Java
Virtual Machine (JVM) when you execute an application.
 Normally, you must call methods explicitly to tell them to
perform their tasks.
 A public is “available to the public”
 It can be called from methods of other classes.
 The return type specifies the type of data the method returns
after performing its task.
 Return type void indicates that a method will perform a
task but will not return (i.e., give back) any information to
its calling method when it completes its task.

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3.2 Declaring a Class with a Method and
Instantiating an Object of a Class (Cont.)
 Method name follows the return type.
 By convention, method names begin with a lowercase first
letter and subsequent words in the name begin with a capital
letter.
 Empty parentheses after the method name indicate that the
method does not require additional information to perform
its task.
 Together, everything in the first line of the method is
typically called the Method header
 Every method’s body is delimited by left and right braces.
 The method body contains one or more statements that
perform the method’s task.

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3.2 Declaring a Class with a Method and
Instantiating an Object of a Class (Cont.)
 Use class GradeBook in an application.
 Class GradeBook is not an application because it does not
contain main.
 Can’t execute GradeBook; will receive an error message
like:
 Exception in thread "main"
java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: main
 Must either declare a separate class that contains a main
method or place a main method in class GradeBook.
 To help you prepare for the larger programs, use a separate
class containing method main to test each new class.
 Some programmers refer to such a class as a driver class.

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3.2 Declaring a Class with a Method and
Instantiating an Object of a Class (Cont.)
 A static method (such as main) is special
 It can be called without first creating an object of the class in
which the method is declared.
 Typically, you cannot call a method that belongs to
another class until you create an object of that class.
 Declare a variable of the class type.
 Each new class you create becomes a new type that can be
used to declare variables and create objects.
 You can declare new class types as needed; this is one reason
why Java is known as an extensible language.

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3.2 Declaring a Class with a Method and
Instantiating an Object of a Class (Cont.)
 Class instance creation expression
 Keyword new creates a new object of the class specified to the
right of the keyword.
 Used to initialize a variable of a class type.
 The parentheses to the right of the class name are required.
 Parentheses in combination with a class name represent a call
to a constructor, which is similar to a method but is used only
at the time an object is created to initialize the object’s data.

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3.2 Declaring a Class with a Method and
Instantiating an Object of a Class (Cont.)
 Call a method via the class-type variable
 Variable name followed by a dot separator (.), the method
name and parentheses.
 Call causes the method to perform its task.
 Any class can contain a main method.
 The JVM invokes the main method only in the class used to
execute the application.
 If multiple classes that contain main, then one that is invoked
is the one in the class named in the java command.

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3.2 Declaring a Class with a Method and
Instantiating an Object of a Class (Cont.)
 Compiling an Application with Multiple Classes
 Compile the classes in Fig. 3.1 and Fig. 3.2 before executing.
 Type the command
javac GradeBook.java GradeBookTest.java
 If the directory containing the application includes only this
application’s files, you can compile all the classes in the
directory with the command
javac *.java

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3.3 Declaring a Class with a Method and
Instantiating an Object of a Class (Cont.)
 Figure 3.3: UML class diagram for class GradeBook.
 Each class is modeled in a class diagram as a rectangle with
three compartments.
 Top: contains the class name centered horizontally in boldface type.
 Middle: contains the class’s attributes, which correspond to instance
variables (Section 3.5).
 Bottom: contains the class’s operations, which correspond to
methods.
 Operations are modeled by listing the operation name
preceded by an access modifier (in this case +) and
followed by a set of parentheses.
 The plus sign (+) corresponds to the keyword public.

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3.3 Declaring a Method with a
Parameter
 Car analogy
 Pressing a car’s gas pedal sends a message to the car to
perform a task—make the car go faster.
 The farther down you press the pedal, the faster the car
accelerates.
 Message to the car includes the task to perform and additional
information that helps the car perform the task.
 Parameter: Additional information a method needs to
perform its task.

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3.3 Declaring a Method with a
Parameter (Cont.)
 A method can require one or more parameters that
represent additional information it needs to perform its
task.
 Defined in a comma-separated parameter list
 Located in the parentheses that follow the method name
 Each parameter must specify a type and an identifier.
 A method call supplies values—called arguments—for
each of the method’s parameters.

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3.3 Declaring a Method with a
Parameter (Cont.)
 Scanner method nextLine
 Reads characters typed by the user until the newline character is
encountered
 Returns a String containing the characters up to, but not
including, the newline
 Press Enter to submit the string to the program.
 Pressing Enter inserts a newline character at the end of the characters
the user typed.
 The newline character is discarded by nextLine.
 Scanner method next
 Reads individual words
 Reads characters until a white-space character is encountered, then
returns a String (the white-space character is discarded).
 Information after the first white-space character can be read by other
statements that call the Scanner’s methods later in the program-.

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3.3 Declaring a Method with a
Parameter (Cont.)
 More on Arguments and Parameters
 The number of arguments in a method call must match the
number of parameters in the parameter list of the method’s
declaration.
 The argument types in the method call must be “consistent
with” the types of the corresponding parameters in the
method’s declaration.

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3.3 Declaring a Method with a
Parameter (Cont.)
 The UML class diagram of Fig. 3.6 models class
GradeBook of Fig. 3.4.
 The UML models a parameter by listing the parameter

name, followed by a colon and the parameter type in

the parentheses- following the operation name.
 The UML type String corresponds to the Java type

String.

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3.3 Declaring a Method with a
Parameter (Cont.)
 Notes on import Declarations
 Classes System and String are in package java.lang
 Implicitly imported into every Java program
 Can use the java.lang classes without explicitly importing them
 Most classes you’ll use in Java programs must be imported explicitly.
 Classes that are compiled in the same directory on disk are in the
same package—known as the default package.
 Classes in the same package are implicitly imported into the source-
code files of other classes in the same package.
 An import declaration is not required if you always refer to a class
via its fully qualified class name
 Package name followed by a dot (.) and the class name.

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3.4 Instance Variables, set Methods
and get Methods
 Local variables
 Variables declared in the body of a particular method.
 When a method terminates, the values of its local variables are
lost.
 Recall from Section 3.2 that an object has attributes that are
carried with the object as it’s used in a program. Such
attributes exist before a method is called on an object and after
the method completes execution.

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3.4 Instance Variables, set Methods
and get Methods (Cont.)
 A class normally consists of one or more methods that
manipulate the attributes that belong to a particular
object of the class.
 Attributes are represented as variables in a class declaration.
 Called fields.
 Declared inside a class declaration but outside the bodies of the
class’s method declarations.
 Instance variable
 When each object of a class maintains its own copy of an
attribute, the field is an instance variable
 Each object (instance) of the class has a separate instance of
the variable in memory.

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3.4 Instance Variables, set Methods
and get Methods (Cont.)
 Every instance (i.e., object) of a class contains one copy of
each instance variable.
 Instance variables typically declared private.
 private is an access modifier.
 private variables and methods are accessible only to methods of
the class in which they are declared.
 Declaring instance private is known as data hiding or
information hiding.
 private variables are encapsulated (hidden) in the object
and can be accessed only by methods of the object’s class.
 Prevents instance variables from being modified accidentally by a
class in another part of the program.
 Set and get methods used to access instance variables.

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3.4 Instance Variables, set Methods
and get Methods (Cont.)
 When a method that specifies a return type other than void
completes its task, the method returns a result to its calling
method.
 Method setCourseName and getCourseName each
use variable courseName even though it was not declared
in any of the methods.
 Can use an instance variable of the class in each of the classes
methods.
 Exception to this is static methods (Chapter 8)
 The order in which methods are declared in a class does not
determine when they are called at execution time.
 One method of a class can call another method of the same
class by using just the method name.

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3.4 Instance Variables, set Methods
and get Methods (Cont.)
 Unlike local variables, which are not automatically
initialized, every field has a default initial value—a
value provided by Java when you do not specify the
field’s initial value.
 Fields are not required to be explicitly initialized before

they are used in a program—unless they must be

initialized to values other than their default values.
 The default value for a field of type String is null

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3.4 Instance Variables, set Methods
and get Methods (Cont.)
 set and get methods
 A class’s private fields can be manipulated only by the
class’s methods.
 A client of an object calls the class’s public methods to
manipulate the private fields of an object of the class.
 Classes often provide public methods to allow clients to set
(i.e., assign values to) or get (i.e., obtain the values of)
private instance variables.
 The names of these methods need not begin with set or get, but
this naming convention is recommended.

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3.4 Instance Variables, set Methods
and get Methods (Cont.)
 Figure 3.9 contains an updated UML class diagram for
the version of class GradeBook in Fig. 3.7.
 Models instance variable courseName as an attribute in the
middle compartment of the class.
 The UML represents instance variables as attributes by listing
the attribute name, followed by a colon and the attribute type.
 A minus sign (–) access modifier corresponds to access
modifier private.

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3.5 Primitive Types vs. Reference
Types
 Types are divided into primitive types and reference types.
 The primitive types are boolean, byte, char, short,
int, long, float and double.
 All nonprimitive types are reference types.
 A primitive-type variable can store exactly one value of its
declared type at a time.
 Primitive-type instance variables are initialized by default—
variables of types byte, char, short, int, long,
float and double are initialized to 0, and variables of
type boolean are initialized to false.
 You can specify your own initial value for a primitive-type
variable by assigning the variable a value in its declaration.

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3.5 Primitive Types vs. Reference
Types
 Programs use variables of reference types (normally called
references) to store the locations of objects in the
computer’s memory.
 Such a variable is said to refer to an object in the program.
 Objects that are referenced may each contain many instance
variables and methods.
 Reference-type instance variables are initialized by default
to the value null
 A reserved word that represents a “reference to nothing.”
 When using an object of another class, a reference to the
object is required to invoke (i.e., call) its methods.
 Also known as sending messages to an object.

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3.6 Initializing Objects with
Constructors
 When an object of a class is created, its instance
variables are initialized by default.
 Each class can provide a constructor that initializes an

object of a class when the object is created.

 Java requires a constructor call for every object that is

created.
 Keyword new requests memory from the system to

store an object, then calls the corresponding class’s

constructor to initialize the object.
 A constructor must have the same name as the class.

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3.6 Initializing Objects with
Constructors (Cont.)
 By default, the compiler provides a default constructor with
no parameters in any class that does not explicitly include a
constructor.
 Instance variables are initialized to their default values.
 Can provide your own constructor to specify custom
initialization for objects of your class.
 A constructor’s parameter list specifies the data it requires
to perform its task.
 Constructors cannot return values, so they cannot specify a
return type.
 Normally, constructors are declared public.
 If you declare any constructors for a class, the Java
compiler will not create a default constructor for that class.

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3.6 Initializing Objects with
Constructors (Cont.)
 The UML class diagram of Fig. 3.12 models class
GradeBook of Fig. 3.10, which has a constructor that
has a name parameter of type String.
 Like operations, the UML models constructors in the

third compartment of a class in a class diagram.

 To distinguish a constructor, the UML requires that the

word “constructor” be placed between guillemets («

and ») before the constructor’s name.
 List constructors before other operations in the third

compartment.

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3.7 Floating-Point Numbers and Type
double
 Floating-point number
 A number with a decimal point, such as 7.33, 0.0975 or
1000.12345).
 float and double primitive types
 double variables can store numbers with larger magnitude
and finer detail than float variables.
 float represents single-precision floating-point
numbers up to seven significant digits.
 double represents double-precision floating-point
numbers that require twice as much memory as float
and provide 15 significant digits—approximately
double the precision of float variables.

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3.7 Floating-Point Numbers and Type
double (Cont.)
 Java treats all floating-point literals (such as 7.33 and
0.0975) as double values by default.
 Appendix D, Primitive Types shows the ranges of

values for floats and doubles.

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3.7 Floating-Point Numbers and Type
double (Cont.)
 System.out.printf
 Format specifier %.2f
 %f is used to output values of type float or double.
 .2 represents the number of decimal places (2) to output to the
right of the decimal point—known as the number’s precision.
 Any floating-point value output with %.2f will be rounded to
the hundredths position.
 Scanner method nextDouble returns a double
value entered by the user.

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3.7 Floating-Point Numbers and Type
double (Cont.)
 The UML class diagram in Fig. 3.15 models class
Account of Fig. 3.13.

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