Chapter 1 Introduction to

Computers, Programs, and Java

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 Objectives
 To write a simple Java program (§1.7).
 To display output on the console (§1.7).
 To explain the basic syntax of a Java program (§1.7).
 To create, compile, and run Java programs (§1.8).

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
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 A Simple Java Program
Listing 1.1
//This program prints Welcome to Java!
public class Welcome {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Welcome to Java!");
}
}

IMPORTANT NOTE: (1) To enable the buttons, you must

Welcome download the entire slide file slide.zip and unzip the files
into a directory (e.g., c:\slide) . (2) You must have installed
Run JDK and set JDK’s bin directory in your environment path
(e.g., c:\Program Files\java\jdk1.6.0_14\bin in your
environment path.
Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
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Creating and Editing Using NotePad
To use NotePad, type
notepad
Welcome.java
from the DOS prompt.

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
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Creating and Editing Using WordPad
To use WordPad, type
write Welcome.java
from the DOS prompt.

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
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 Creating, Compiling, and
Running Programs
Create/Modify Source Code

Source code (developed by the programmer)

Saved on the disk
public class Welcome {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Welcome to Java!"); Source Code
}
}

Compile Source Code

Byte code (generated by the compiler for JVM i.e., javac Welcome.java
to read and interpret, not for you to understand)
…
Method Welcome() If compilation errors
0 aload_0 stored on the disk
…
Bytecode
Method void main(java.lang.String[])
0 getstatic #2 …
3 ldc #3 <String "Welcome to
Java!">
5 invokevirtual #4 …
8 return Run Byteode
i.e., java Welcome

Result

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011IfPearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
runtime errors or incorrect result 6
 Compiling Java Programs
 The Java compiler produces bytecode (a “.class” file)
not machine code from the source code (the “.java”
file).
 Bytecode is converted into machine code using a Java
Interpreter
Source Code Bytecode

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
 Platform Independent
Java Programs Compiling
 You can run bytecode on an computer that has a
Java Interpreter installed

“Hello.java” “Hello.class”

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
Multipurpose Java Compiling

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
 Compiling Java Source Code
You can port a source program to any machine with appropriate
compilers. The source program must be recompiled, however, because
the object program can only run on a specific machine. Nowadays
computers are networked to work together. Java was designed to run
object programs on any platform. With Java, you write the program
once, and compile the source program into a special type of object
code, known as bytecode. The bytecode can then run on any computer
with a Java Virtual Machine, as shown below. Java Virtual Machine is
a software that interprets Java bytecode.
Java Bytecode

Java Virtual
Machine

Any
Computer

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
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animation

Trace a Program Execution

Enter main method

//This program prints Welcome to Java!

public class Welcome {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Welcome to Java!");
}
}

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
11
animation

Trace a Program Execution

Execute statement

//This program prints Welcome to Java!

public class Welcome {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Welcome to Java!");
}
}

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
12
animation

Trace a Program Execution

//This program prints Welcome to Java!

public class Welcome {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Welcome to Java!");
}
}

print a message to the

console

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
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 Compiling and Running Java
from the Command Window
 Set path to JDK bin directory
– set path=c:\Program Files\java\jdk1.6.0\bin
 Set classpath to include the current directory
– set classpath=.
 Compile
– javac Welcome.java
 Run
– java Welcome
Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
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 Anatomy of a Java Program
 Comments
 Reserved words
 Modifiers
 Statements
 Blocks
 Classes
 Methods
 The main method
Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
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 Comments
Three types of comments in Java.

Line comment: A line comment is preceded by two

slashes (//) in a line.
Paragraph comment: A paragraph comment is enclosed
between /* and */ in one or multiple lines.

javadoc comment: javadoc comments begin with /**

and end with */. They are used for documenting
classes, data, and methods. They can be extracted
into an HTML file using JDK's javadoc command.
Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
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 Reserved Words
Reserved words or keywords are words that have a
specific meaning to the compiler and cannot be used for
other purposes in the program. For example, when the
compiler sees the word class, it understands that the word
after class is the name for the class. Other reserved words
in Listing 1.1 are public, static, and void. Their use will
be introduced later in the book.

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
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 Modifiers
Java uses certain reserved words called modifiers that
specify the properties of the data, methods, and
classes and how they can be used. Examples of
modifiers are public and static. Other modifiers are
private, final, abstract, and protected. A public datum,
method, or class can be accessed by other programs. A
private datum or method cannot be accessed by other
programs. Modifiers are discussed in Chapter 6,
“Objects and Classes.”

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
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 Statements
A statement represents an action or a sequence of actions.
The statement System.out.println("Welcome to Java!") in
the program in Listing 1.1 is a statement to display the
greeting "Welcome to Java!" Every statement in Java
ends with a semicolon (;).

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
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 Blocks
A pair of braces in a program forms a block that groups
components of a program.

public class Test {

Class block
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Welcome to Java!"); Method block
}
}

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
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 Classes
The class is the essential Java construct. A class is a
template or blueprint for objects. To program in Java, you
must understand classes and be able to write and use
them. The mystery of the class will continue to be
unveiled throughout this book. For now, though,
understand that a program is defined by using one or
more classes.

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
21
 Methods
What is System.out.println? It is a method: a collection
of statements that performs a sequence of operations to
display a message on the console. It can be used even
without fully understanding the details of how it works. It
is used by invoking a statement with a string argument.
The string argument is enclosed within parentheses. In
this case, the argument is "Welcome to Java!" You can
call the same println method with a different argument to
print a different message.

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
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 main Method
The main method provides the control of program flow.
The Java interpreter executes the application by invoking
the main method.

The main method looks like this:

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Statements;
}

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Eighth Edition, (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved. 0132130807
23