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Introduction to Programming
Chapter 4 - Defining Classes
Part A

Dr. Aiman Hanna

Department of Computer Science & Software Engineering
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

These slides has been extracted, modified and updated from original slides of Absolute Java 3 rd Edition by Savitch;
which has originally been prepared by Rose Williams of Binghamton University. Absolute Java is published by
Pearson Education / Addison-Wesley.

Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley

Copyright © 2008-2016 Aiman Hanna
All rights reserved
 Class Definitions
 We have already been using some of the predefined classes, i.e.
String and Scanner classes

 We can add/define our own classes to the language

 A class determines:
 1) Attributes, or Instance Variables: the types of data that an object can
contain,
 2) Methods: the actions it can perform

 Once a new class is defined, objects, or instances, can be created

from this class

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 Class Definitions

int x, y;
Data declarations
char ch;

Method declarations

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 The new Operator
 An object of a class is named or declared by a variable of the class
type:
ClassName objectName;

 The new operator must then be used to create the object and
associate it with its variable name (however, some few exceptions do
exist):
objectName = new ClassName();

 These can be combined as follows:

ClassName objectName = new ClassName();

Example:
Car c1 = new Car(); // Car is the class name and
// c1 is the object name
// IMPORTANT NOTE: In fact,
// c1 is a pointer/reference
// to the object
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 Instance Variables and Methods
 Instance variables (attributes) can be defined as in the
following two examples
 Note the public modifier (for now):
public int numberOfDoors;
public double Price;

 In order to refer to a particular instance variable, preface

it with its object name as follows:
c1.price
c2.price
c1.numberOfDoors

c1 & c2 are just two objects from the class

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 Instance Variables and Methods
 Method definitions are divided into two parts: a heading and a
method body:
public void myMethod() // Heading
{
code to perform some action // Body
and/or compute a value
}

 Methods are invoked using the name of the calling object and
the method name as follows:
objName.methodName();
Example:
C1.getNumberOfDoors();

 Invoking a method is equivalent to executing the method body

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 File Names and Locations
 Reminder: a Java file must be given the same
name as the class it contains with an added
.java at the end
 For example, a class named Car must be in a file
named Car.java

 For now, your program and all the classes it uses

should be in the same directory or folder

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 More About Methods
 There are two kinds of methods:
 Methods that compute/perform an action then
return a value
 Methods that compute/perform an action then does
not return a value
 This type of method is called a void method; in other
words, it returns void

 Notice that in both cases, the function do

indeed perform an action
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 More About Methods
 A method that returns a value must specify the
type of that value in its heading:
public typeReturned methodName(paramList)
Note: paramList is optional

Examples:
public double getPrice();
public int getNumOfDoors();
public void setNumOfDoors(int nd); // nd is just
// a name

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 main is a void Method
 A program in Java is just a class that has a main
method

 When you give a command to run a Java program, the

run-time system invokes the method main

 Note that main is a void method, as indicated by its

heading:
public static void main(String[] args)

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 return Statements
 The body of both types of methods contains a list of
declarations and statements enclosed in a pair of braces
public <void or typeReturned> myMethod()
{
declarations Body
statements
}

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 return Statements
 The body of a method that returns a value must
also contain one or more return statements

 A return statement specifies the value returned

and ends the method invocation:
return Expression;

 Expression can be any expression that evaluates

to something of the type returned listed in the
method heading
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 return Statements
 A void method need not contain a return
statement, unless there is a situation that
requires the method to end before all its code is
executed

 In this context, since it does not return a value, a

return statement is used without an
expression:
return;

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 Method Definitions
 An invocation of a method that returns a value can be
used as an expression anyplace that a value of the
returned type can be used:
double pr;
pr = c1.getPrice();

 An invocation of a void method is simply a statement:

objectName.methodName();

Examples:
c1.setPrice(20000);
c1.showModel();

 VehicleSearch1.java (MS-Word file)

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 Example: The Vehicle Class
v1
 See VehicleSearch1.java
numOfDoors
4
class Vehicle price
10000
maxSpeed
280
int numOfDoors;
double price;
v2
int maxSpeed;
numOfDoors
4
price
10000
maxSpeed
280

v3
numOfDoors
4
price
10000
maxSpeed
280
v1, v2 & v3 upon creation
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 Constructors
 A constructor is a special kind of method that is designed
to initialize the instance variables for an object:
public ClassName(anyParameters){code}

 A constructor must have the same name as the class

 A constructor has no type returned, not even void

 VehicleSearch2.java (MS-Word file)

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public and private Modifiers
 The modifier public means that there are no restrictions on
where an instance variable or method can be used

 The modifier private means that an instance variable or

method cannot be accessed by name outside of the class

 VehicleSearch3.java (MS-Word file)

 VehicleSearch4.java (MS-Word file)

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Include a No-Argument Constructor
 You should include a default, or no-argument constructor as part of
your program. Default constructors will be discussed later in full
details.

 If you do not include any constructors in your class, Java will

automatically create a default or no-argument constructor that takes
no arguments, performs no initializations, but allows the object
to be created

 If you include even one constructor (possibly non-default) in

your class, Java will not provide this default constructor

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 Local Variables
 A variable declared within a method definition is
called a local variable
 All variables declared in the main method are local
variables
 All method parameters are local variables

 If two methods each have a local variable of the

same name, they are still two entirely different
variables

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 Global Variables
 Some programming languages include another
kind of variable called a global variable

 The Java language does not have global variables

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 Blocks
 A block is another name for a compound statement, that
is, a set of Java statements enclosed in braces,{}

 A variable declared within a block is local to that block,

and cannot be used outside the block

 Once a variable has been declared within a block, its

name cannot be used for anything else within the same
method definition

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 Declaring Variables in a for Statement
 You can declare one or more variables within the
initialization portion of a for statement

 A variable so declared will be local to the for loop,

and cannot be used outside of the loop

 If you need to use such a variable outside of a loop,

then declare it outside the loop
 Statements14.java (MS-Word file)
 Statements15.java (MS-Word file)
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Parameters of a Primitive Type
 A method can accept no parameters, one parameter,
or few of them (parameter list)
 These parameter(s) are referred to as formal parameters
public void setVehicleInfo(int nd, double pr, int mxsp)

 When a method is invoked, the appropriate values

must be passed to the method in the form of
arguments, and must be in the right order
 These arguments are called actual parameters
c1.setVehicleInfo(4, 12500.99, 280);

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 Parameters of a Primitive Type
 The type of each argument must be compatible with the type of
the corresponding parameter. The following two statements use
the method correctly
c1.setVehicleInfo(4, 12500.99, 280);
int n = 5, m = 260;
double p = 19700.95;
c1.setVehicleInfo(n, p, m);

 NOTE: In both examples, the value of each argument (not the

variable name) is the one plugged into the corresponding
method parameter
 This method of plugging in arguments for formal parameters is known as
the call-by-value mechanism

 MethodParameters1.java (MS-Word file)

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 Parameters of a Primitive Type
 If argument and parameter types do not match exactly,
Java will attempt to make an automatic type conversion

 A primitive argument can be automatically type cast from any

of the following types, to any of the types that appear to its
right:
byteshortintlongfloatdouble
char

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 Methods That Return a Boolean Value

 An invocation of a method that returns a value

of type boolean returns either true or
false

 Therefore, it is common practice to use an

invocation of such a method to control
statements and loops where a boolean
expression is expected
 i.e. within if-else statements, while loops,
etc.
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 Comparing Objects of the Same Class for
Equality
 You cannot use == to compare objects
 VehicleCompare1.java (MS-Word file)

 Instead use methods such as user-defined

equals, or toString to compare the objects
 VehicleCompare2.java (MS-Word file)

 VehicleCompare3.java (MS-Word file)

 VehicleCompare4.java (MS-Word file)

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 Accessor and Mutator Methods
 Accessor methods allow the programmer to obtain the value of an
object's instance variables
 The data can be accessed but not changed
 The name of an accessor method typically starts with the
word get

 Mutator methods allow the programmer to change the value of an

object's instance variables in a controlled manner
 Incoming data is typically tested and/or filtered
 The name of a mutator method typically starts with the word
set

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Encapsulation

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A Class Has Access to Private Members of All
Objects of the Class
 Within the definition of a class, private members
of any object of the class can be accessed, not
just private members of the calling object

For example, see the equals function in

VehicleCompare2.java (MS-Word file)
The function has access to the private date of the
passed object, vec

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