Packages in java

PACKAGES IN JAVA
Elizabeth Alexander
Hindustan University

PACKAGES
● Packages in Java is a mechanism to encapsulate a group of classes, interfaces
and sub packages.
● In java there are already many predefined packages that we use while
programming.
■ For example: java.lang, java.io, java.util etc.
● One of the most useful feature of java is that we can define our own packages

PACKAGES Cont...
Advantages of using a package
● Reusability: Reusability of code is one of the most important requirements in the
software industry. Reusability saves time, effort and also ensures consistency. A
class once developed can be reused by any number of programs wishing to
incorporate the class in that particular program.
● Easy to locate the files.
● In real life situation there may arise scenarios where we need to define files of the
same name. This may lead to “name-space collisions”. Packages are a way of
avoiding “name-space collisions”.

PACKAGES Cont...
● Many implementations of Java use a hierarchical file system to manage source
and class files. It is easy to organize class files into packages. All we need to do is
put related class files in the same directory, give the directory a name that relates
to the purpose of the classes, and add a line to the top of each class file that
declares the package name, which is the same as the directory name where they
reside.
● Types of package:
■ 1) User defined package: The package we create is called user-defined
package.
■ 2) Built-in package: The already defined package like java.io.*,
java.lang.* etc are known as built-in packages.

PACKAGES Cont...
Defining a Package:
● This statement should be used in the beginning of the program to include that
program in that particular package.
package <package name>;
● The package keyword is used to create a package in java.
To Compile: javac -d directory javafilename.java
To Run: java packagename.classname
● The -d switch specifies the destination where to put the generated class file
● If you want to keep the package within the same directory, you can use . (dot).

How to access package from another package?
There are three ways to access the package from outside the package.
1. import package.*;
2. import package.classname;
3. fully qualified name.
Using packagename.*
● If you use package.* then all the classes and interfaces of this package will be
accessible but not subpackages.
● The import keyword is used to make the classes and interface of another package
accessible to the current package.

Using packagename.classname
● If you import package.classname then only declared class of this package will be
accessible.
Using fully qualified name
● If you use fully qualified name then only declared class of this package will be
accessible.
● Now there is no need to import. But you need to use fully qualified name every
time when you are accessing the class or interface.
● It is generally used when two packages have same class name e.g. java.util and
java.sql packages contain Date class.
Note: If you import a package, all the classes and interface of that package will be
imported excluding the classes and interfaces of the subpackages. Hence, you need to
import the subpackage as well.

Sequence of the program must be package then import then class.

Packaging up multiple classes
Package with Multiple Public Classes
● A Java source file can have only one class declared as public, we cannot put two
or more public classes together in a.java file. This is because of the restriction
that the file name should be same as the name of the public class with
.javaextension.
● If we want to multiple classes under consideration are to be declared as public,
we have to store them in separate source files and attach the package
statement as the first statement in those source files.
//Save as A.java //Save as B.java
package javapoint; package java
Public class B{} public class a{}

CLASSPATH
● It is a environmental variable, which contains the path for the default-working
directory (.).
● The specific location that java compiler will consider, as the root of any package
hierarchy is, controlled by Classpath
● The package name is closely associated with the directory structure used to store
the classes. The classes (and other entities) belonging to a specific package are
stored together in the same directory.
● There is a scenario, I want to put the class file of A.java source file in classes
folder of c: drive. For example:

//save as Simple.java
package mypack;
public class Simple{
public static void main(String args[]){
System.out.println("Welcome to package");
}
}
To Compile:
e:sources> javac -d c:classes Simple.java
To Run:
To run this program from e:source directory, you need to set classpath of the directory
where the class file resides.
e:sources> set classpath=c:classes;
e:sources> java mypack.Simple

Another way to run this program by -classpath switch of
java:
● The -classpath switch can be used with javac and java tool.
● To run this program from e:source directory, you can use -classpath switch of
java that tells where to look for class file. For example:
■ e:sources> java -classpath c:classes mypack.Simple
Access Protection in Packages
● Access modifiers define the scope of the class and its members (data and
methods).
● There are four categories, provided by Java regarding the visibility of the class
members between classes and packages:
■ Subclasses in the same package
■ Non-subclasses in the same package
■ Subclasses in different packages
■ Classes that are neither in the same package nor subclasses

Packages in java

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