Object Oriented

Programming
Inner Classes
 Simple Uses of Inner Classes
 Inner classes are classes defined within
other classes
 The class that includes the inner class is
called the outer class
 There is no particular location where the
definition of the inner class (or classes) must
be place within the outer class
 Placing it first or last, however, will
guarantee that it is easy to find

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 Simple Uses of Inner Classes

 An inner class definition is a member of the

outer class in the same way that the instance
variables and methods of the outer class are
members
 An inner class is local to the outer class definition
 The name of an inner class may be reused for
something else outside the outer class definition
 If the inner class is private, then the inner class
cannot be accessed by name outside the definition
of the outer class
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 Inner/Outer Classes
public class Outer
{
private class Inner
{
// inner class instance variables
// inner class methods

} // end of inner class definition

// outer class instance variables

// outer class methods
}
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 Simple Uses of Inner Classes
 There are two main advantages to inner classes
 They can make the outer class more self-contained since
they are defined inside a class
 Both of their methods have access to each other's private
methods and instance variables
 Using an inner class as a helping class is one of the
most useful applications of inner classes
 If used as a helping class, an inner class should be marked
private

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 Inner and Outer Classes Have Access to Each Other's Private Members

 Within the definition of a method of an inner class:

 It is legal to reference a private instance variable of the outer
class
 It is legal to invoke a private method of the outer class
 Essentially, the inner class has a hidden reference to the outer
class
 Within the definition of a method of the outer class
 It is legal to reference a private instance variable of the inner
class on an object of the inner class
 It is legal to invoke a (nonstatic) method of the inner class as long
as an object of the inner class is used as a calling object

 Within the definition of the inner or outer classes, the modifiers

public and private are equivalent
6
 Class with an Inner Class

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Class with an Inner Class

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Class with an Inner Class

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Referring to a Method of the Outer Class
 If a method is invoked in an inner class
 If the inner class has no such method, then it is assumed to be an
invocation of the method of that name in the outer class
 If both the inner and outer class have a method with the same
name, then it is assumed to be an invocation of the method in the
inner class
 If both the inner and outer class have a method with the same
name, and the intent is to invoke the method in the outer class,
then the following invocation must be used:
OuterClassName.this.methodName()

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Public Inner Classes
 If an inner class is marked public, then it can be
used outside of the outer class
 In the case of a nonstatic inner class, it must be
created using an object of the outer class
BankAccount account = new
BankAccount();
BankAccount.Money amount =
account.new Money("41.99");
 Note that the prefix account. must come before new
 The new object amount can now invoke methods from the
inner class, but only from the inner class

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Public Inner Classes
 In the case of a static inner class, the
procedure is similar to, but simpler than, that
for nonstatic inner classes
OuterClass.InnerClass innerObject =
new
OuterClass.InnerClass();
 Note that all of the following are acceptable
innerObject.nonstaticMethod();
innerObject.staticMethod();
OuterClass.InnerClass.staticMethod()
;
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Public Money Inner Class
If the Money inner class in the BankAccount example was defined as
public, we can create and use objects of type Money outside the
BankAccount class.
// this is okay in main( )
BankAccount account = new BankAccount( );
BankAccount.Money amt = // note syntax
account.new Money( “41.99” );
System.out.println( amt.getAmount( ) );
// but NOT this – why not??
System.out.println( amt.getBalance( ) );

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Static Inner Classes
 A normal inner class has a connection between its objects
and the outer class object that created the inner class
object
 This allows an inner class definition to reference an instance
variable, or invoke a method of the outer class
 There are certain situations, however, when an inner class
must be static
 If an object of the inner class is created within a static method of
the outer class
 If the inner class must have static members

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14
Static Inner Classes
 Since a static inner class has no connection to an object of
the outer class, within an inner class method
 Instance variables of the outer class cannot be referenced
 Nonstatic methods of the outer class cannot be invoked
 To invoke a static method or to name a static variable of a
static inner class within the outer class, preface each with
the name of the inner class and a dot

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Multiple Inner Classes
 A class can have as many inner classes as it
needs.
 Inner classes have access to each other’s
private members as long as an object of the
other inner class is used as the calling
object.

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The .class File for an Inner
Class
 Compiling any class in Java produces a .class file
named ClassName.class
 Compiling a class with one (or more) inner classes causes
both (or more) classes to be compiled, and produces two
(or more) .class files
 Such as ClassName.class and
ClassName$InnerClassName.class

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Nesting Inner Classes
 It is legal to nest inner classes within inner classes
 The rules are the same as before, but the names get longer
 Given class A, which has public inner class B, which has public
inner class C, then the following is valid:
A aObject = new A();
A.B bObject = aObject.new B();
A.B.C cObject = bObject.new C();

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Inner Classes and Inheritance
 Given an OuterClass that has an InnerClass
 Any DerivedClass of OuterClass will automatically have
InnerClass as an inner class
 In this case, the DerivedClass cannot override the
InnerClass
 An outer class can be a derived class
 An inner class can be a derived class also

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Anonymous Classes
 If an object is to be created, but there is no need to name the object's
class, then an anonymous class definition can be used
 The class definition is embedded inside the expression with the
new operator
 An anonymous class is an abbreviated notation for creating a
simple local object "in-line" within any expression, simply by
wrapping the desired code in a "new" expression.
 Anonymous classes are sometimes used when they are to be
assigned to a variable of another type
 The other type must be such that an object of the anonymous
class is also an object of the other type
 The other type is usually a Java interface
 Not every inner class should be anonymous, but very simple
"one-shot" local objects are such a common case that they merit
some syntactic sugar.

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Anonymous Classes

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Anonymous Classes

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Anonymous Classes

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