Java Programming/Print Version

Java Programming/Print version
Wikibooks.org
March 24, 2011.
Contents
1 A BOUT T HIS B OOK 1.1 W HO S HOULD R EAD T HIS B OOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 H OW THIS BOOK IS EVOLVING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H ISTORY 2.1 T HE G REEN TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 R ESHAPING THOUGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 T HE DEMISE OF AN IDEA , BIRTH OF ANOTHER 2.4 R ECENT HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 V ERSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6 C ITATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T HE J AVA P LATFORM 3.1 J AVA TECHNOLOGIES . . . . . . 3.2 J AVA RUNTIME E NVIRONMENT 3.3 L ANGUAGES . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 S IMILAR P LATFORMS . . . . . . 1 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 8 11 13 13 14 15 15 17 17 19 20 25 25 26 26 27 27 27 28 29 29 29 29 30 30 31 31 31
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J AVA P ROGRAMMING E NVIRONMENT 4.1 T HE J AVA C OMPILER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 T HE J AVA RUNTIME E NVIRONMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 OTHER JDK TOOLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I NSTALLATION 5.1 W INDOWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 U BUNTU L INUX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 E XTERNAL L INKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C OMPILATION 6.1 C OMPILING TO BYTECODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 AUTOMATIC C OMPILATION OF D EPENDENT C LASSES 6.3 PACKAGES , S UBDIRECTORIES , AND R ESOURCES . . . 6.4 F ILENAME C ASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5 C OMPILER O PTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6 A DDITIONAL T OOLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.7 JB UILDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.8 JC REATOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.9 E CLIPSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.10 N ET B EANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.11 B LUE J . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.12 K AWA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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III
Contents
6.13 6.14 7
A NT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T HE JIT COMPILER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
31 32 33 33 36 41 43 43 44 45 45 47 47 48 56 57 58 59 60 60 61 61 63 63 63 64 64 64 65 67 67 67 71 74 75 75 75 76 77 78 79 79 80
E XECUTION 7.1 JSE CODE EXECUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 J2EE CODE EXECUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3 J INI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F IRST J AVA P ROGRAM 8.1 H ELLO W ORLD . . . . . . . 8.2 M ODIFYING THE P ROGRAM 8.3 C OMMON P ROBLEMS . . . 8.4 T HE N EXT S TEP . . . . . .
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U NDERSTANDING A J AVA P ROGRAM 9.1 T HE D ISTANCE C LASS : I NTENT, S OURCE , AND U SE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 D ETAILED P ROGRAM S TRUCTURE AND O VERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3 C OMMENTS IN J AVA PROGRAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10 S YNTAX 10.1 U NICODE . . . . . . . . 10.2 L ITERALS . . . . . . . . 10.3 B LOCKS . . . . . . . . . 10.4 W HITESPACES . . . . . . 10.5 R EQUIRED W HITESPACE 10.6 I NDENTATION . . . . . .
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11 S TATEMENTS 11.1 W HAT EXACTLY ARE STATEMENTS ? . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 W HERE DO YOU FIND STATEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . 11.3 VARIABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.4 D ATA TYPES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.5 W HOLE NUMBERS AND FLOATING POINT NUMBERS 11.6 A SSIGNMENT STATEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.7 P ROGRAM C ONTROL F LOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.8 S TATEMENT B LOCKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.9 B RANCHING S TATEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.10 I TERATION S TATEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.11 T HE CONTINUE AND BREAK STATEMENTS . . . . . . 12 C LASSES , O BJECTS AND T YPES 12.1 O BJECTS AND C LASSES . . . . . . . . 12.2 I NSTANTIATION AND C ONSTRUCTORS 12.3 T YPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.4 M ULTIPLE CLASSES IN A J AVA FILE . . 12.5 E XTERNAL LINKS . . . . . . . . . . . .
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13 PACKAGES 13.1 J AVA PACKAGE / N AME S PACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2 W ILDCARD IMPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IV
Contents
13.3 13.4
I MPORTING PACKAGES FROM . JAR FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C LASS L OADING / N AME S PACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
80 81 83 83 84 84 87 87 89 89 89 91 92 93 93 95 96 97 99 101 101 102 102 104 104 105 106 107 107 108 109 110 111 112 112 113 113 113 113 114
14 N ESTED C LASSES 14.1 N EST A CLASS INSIDE A CLASS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2 N EST A CLASS INSIDE A METHOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.3 A NONYMOUS C LASSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 A CCESS M ODIFIERS 15.1 A CCESS MODIFIERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 M ETHODS 16.1 M ETHOD D EFINITION . . . . . . . . . . 16.2 M ETHOD O VERLOADING . . . . . . . . 16.3 M ETHOD O VERRIDING . . . . . . . . . 16.4 PARAMETER PASSING . . . . . . . . . . 16.5 F UNCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.6 R ETURN PARAMETER . . . . . . . . . . . 16.7 S PECIAL METHOD, THE C ONSTRUCTOR 16.8 S TATIC M ETHOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.9 E XTERNAL LINKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 P RIMITIVE T YPES 18 T YPES 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 18.6 18.7 19
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D ATA T YPES IN J AVA . . . . . . A BOUT J AVA T YPES . . . . . . . E XAMPLES OF T YPES . . . . . . A RRAY T YPES . . . . . . . . . . P RIMITIVE D ATA T YPES . . . . D ATA C ONVERSION (C ASTING ) AUTOBOXING / UNBOXING . . .
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JAVA . LANG .S TRING
19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 19.6 19.7
JAVA . LANG .S TRING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U SING S TRING B UFFER /S TRING B UILDER TO CONCATENATE STRINGS C OMPARING S TRINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S PLITTING A S TRING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C REATING SUBSTRINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M ODIFYING S TRING CASES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S EE ALSO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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20 A RRAYS 20.1 I NTRO TO A RRAYS . . . . . . 20.2 A RRAY F UNDAMENTALS . . . 20.3 T WO -D IMENSIONAL A RRAYS 20.4 M ULTIDIMENSIONAL A RRAY
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21 D ATA AND VARIABLES 115 21.1 S TRONG T YPING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Contents
21.2 21.3
C ASE C ONVENTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 S COPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 119 119 120 121 122 123 124
22 G ENERICS 22.1 W HAT ARE G ENERICS ? . . . . . . 22.2 I NTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . 22.3 N OTE FOR C++ PROGRAMMERS . 22.4 C LASS <T> . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.5 VARIABLE A RGUMENT . . . . . . 22.6 W ILDCARD T YPES . . . . . . . .
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23 D EFINING C LASSES 127 23.1 F UNDAMENTALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 24 C REATING O BJECTS 24.1 I NTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.2 C REATING OBJECT WITH THE new KEYWORD . . . . . . . 24.3 C REATING OBJECT BY CLONING AN OBJECT . . . . . . . . 24.4 C REATING OBJECT RECEIVING FROM A REMOTE SOURCE 131 131 131 132 134
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25 I NTERFACES 137 25.1 I NTERFACES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 25.2 E XTERNAL LINKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 26 U SING S TATIC M EMBERS 26.1 W HAT DOES STATIC MEAN ? . . 26.2 W HAT CAN IT BE USED FOR ? . 26.3 D ANGER OF STATIC VARIABLES 26.4 E XTERNAL LINKS . . . . . . . . 139 139 139 140 140
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27 D ESTROYING O BJECTS 141 27.1 FINALIZE () . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 28 OVERLOADING M ETHODS AND C ONSTRUCTORS 29 A RRAYS 29.1 I NTRO TO A RRAYS . . . . . . 29.2 A RRAY F UNDAMENTALS . . . 29.3 T WO -D IMENSIONAL A RRAYS 29.4 M ULTIDIMENSIONAL A RRAY 143 145 145 145 145 146 147 147 148 149 152 159 161 161 163
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30 C OLLECTION C LASSES 30.1 I NTRODUCTION TO C OLLECTIONS 30.2 G ENERICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.3 C OLLECTION OR M AP . . . . . . . 30.4 S ET OR L IST OR QUEUE . . . . . . 30.5 M AP C LASSES . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.6 T HREAD S AFE C OLLECTIONS . . . 30.7 C LASSES D IAGRAM (UML) . . . . 30.8 E XTERNAL LINKS . . . . . . . . . .
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VI
Contents
31 T HROWING AND C ATCHING E XCEPTIONS 31.1 C ATCHING M ATCHING RULES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.2 E XAMPLE OF HANDLING EXCEPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.3 A PPLICATION E XCEPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.4 RUNTIME E XCEPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.5 M AIN E XCEPTION C LASSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.6 S EE A LSO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.7 M INIMIZE THE USE OF THE KEYWORD NULL IN ASSIGNMENT STATEMENTS . . . . 31.8 M INIMIZE THE USE OF THE NEW T YPE [ INT ] SYNTAX FOR CREATING ARRAYS OF OB JECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.9 C HECK ALL REFERENCES OBTAINED FROM UNTRUSTED METHODS . . . . . . . . . 31.10 C OMPARING STRING VARIABLE WITH A STRING LITERAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.11 S EE ALSO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
165 165 169 170 171 172 174 174 175 175 175 176
32 L INKS 177 32.1 E XTERNAL R EFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 32.2 E XTERNAL LINKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 33 L ICENSE 34 GNU F REE D OCUMENTATION L ICENSE 35 AUTHORS L IST OF F IGURES 181 183 185 191
VII
Contents
VIII
1 About This Book

Java has gained a considerable foothold in the world of programming since its inception in 1995. Since then, the way people code has been gradually evolving into a more standardized manner, rendering Java programming as a pivotal rst step into the realm of software code that is O BJECT O RIENTED P ROGRAMMING1 . In an effort to enable software enthusiasts to program in Java as their rst language, this book nds itself a mission: to deliver as much information as is possible using Java as a primary programming language. Because of that this book can be considered as a reference book of Java and its related technologies. Hosting the book on W IKIBOOKS2 means that this book will constantly be evolving into a more comprehensive text as time goes by.
1.1 Who Should Read This Book

This book is for programmers who wish to learn how to program with Java. This book does not teach general programming constructs: we assume you know what variables are, what assignment is, etc. We also assume you know the basics of Object Oriented programming. If you need to brush up on these topics, a suggested place to start is S UBJECT:C OMPUTER GRAMMING CONCEPTS 3 which has a book on O BJECT O RIENTED P ROGRAMMING 4 .
PRO -
Also there are many good commercial books that can be used to learn Java (see the external links). This book does not intend to replace them. Rather this book can be used to supplement them, during the learning of Java. It always helps the learning process to hear the same information in different ways, and this book represents one of the ways. And when the Java language is mastered, this book can be used as a reference. When you want to look something up quickly, instead of searching in a printed book, you can look it up in this book. This book can also be used by advanced Java programmers either by contributing or using this book as a reference. Also there is an Advanced Topics section for advanced Java programmers.
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H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /O B J E C T %20O R I E N T E D %20P R O G R A M M I N G H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /M A I N %20P A G E H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /S U B J E C T %3AC O M P U T E R %20 P R O G R A M M I N G %20 C O N C E P T S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /O B J E C T %20O R I E N T E D %20P R O G R A M M I N G
About This Book
1.2 How this book is evolving

Any Wikibooks user can edit or modify this book. With readily available information on the internet, this book is expected to include all aspects of the Java Programming language albeit it is taken into consideration that not everything is crammed into the book.
2 History
On 23 M AY1 19952 , J OHN G AGE3 , the director of the Science Ofce of the S UN M ICROSYS TEMS 4 along with M ARC A NDREESEN 5 , co-founder and executive vice president at N ETSCAPE 6 announced to an audience of SunWorldTM that Java technology wasnt a myth and that it was a reality and that it was going to be incorporated into N ETSCAPE N AVIGATOR7 .8 At the time the total number of people working on Java were less than 30 people.<ref name="CITEREFEarlyYearsSun1"/> This team would shape the future in the next decade and no one had any idea as to what was in store. From being the mind of an unmanned vehicle on M ARS9 to the operating environment on most of the consumer electronics, e.g., cable set-top boxes,VCRs, toasters, and also for PERSONAL DATA ASSISTANTS10 (PDAs).11 Java has come a long way from its inception. Lets see how it all began.
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UNKNOWN TEMPLATE "cite web"
History
2.1 The Green team
Figure 1: James Gosling, architect and designer of the compiler for the Java technology
Behind closed doors, a project was initiated in December of 199012 , whose aim was to create a programming tool that could render obsolete the C and C++ programming languages. Engineer Patrick Naughton had become extremely frustrated with the state of Suns C++ and C APIs (application programming interfaces) and tools. While he was considering to move towards N E XT13 , he was offered a chance to work on new technology and the "Stealth Project" was started, a secret nobody but he knew. This Stealth Project was later named the "Green Project" when J AMES G OSLING14 and M IKE S HERIDAN15 joined Patrick.<ref name="CITEREFEarlyYearsSun1"/> Over the period of time that the Green Project teethed, the prospects of the project started becoming clearer to the engineers working on it. No longer was its aim to create a new language far superior to the present ones, but it aimed to target the language to devices other than the computer. Staffed at 13 people, they began work in a small ofce on S AND H ILL R OAD16 in M ENLO PARK , C ALIFORNIA17 . This team would be called "Green Team" henceforth in time. The project they underwent was chartered by Sun Microsystems to anticipate and plan for the "next-wave" in computing. For the team, this meant at least one signicant trend, that of the convergence of digitally controlled consumer devices and computers.<ref name="CITEREFEarlyYearsSun1"/>
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H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /1990 H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /N E XT H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /J A M E S %20G O S L I N G H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /M I K E %20S H E R I D A N H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /S A N D %20H I L L %20R O A D H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /M E N L O %20P A R K %2C%20C A L I F O R N I A
Reshaping thought
2.2 Reshaping thought

The team started thinking of replacing C++ with a better version, a faster version, a responsive version. But the one thing they hadnt thought of, as of yet, was that the language they were aiming for, had to be developed for an EMBEDDED SYSTEM18 with limited resources. An embedded system is a computer system scaled to a minimalistic interface demanding only a few functions from its design. For such a system, C++ or any successor would seem too large as all the languages at the time demanded a larger footprint than what was desired. And, other than this, the language lacked some other important features as well. The team thus had to think in a different way to go about solving all these problems. Co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Bill Joy, envisioned a language combining the power of M ESA19 and C in a paper he wrote for the engineers at Sun named Further. Gathering ideas, Gosling began work on enhancing C++ and named it "C++ ++ --", a pun on the evolutionary structure of the languages name. The ++ and -- meant, putting in and taking out stuff. He soon abandoned the name and called it Oak<ref name="CITEREFEarlyYearsSun1"/> after the tree that stood outside his ofce. GT FP Table 1: Whos who of the Java technology<ref name="CITEREFEarlyYearsSun1"/> Has worked for GT (Green Team), FP (FirstPerson) and JP (Java Products Group) Name Lisa Friendly Yes JP Details
Yes
John Gage
J AMES G OSLING20
Yes
Yes
Yes
FirstPerson employee and member of the Java Products Group Science Ofce (Director), Sun Microsystems Lead engineer and key architect of the Java technology
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History
GT FP Table 1: Whos who of the Java technology<ref name="CITEREFEarlyYearsSun1"/> Has worked for GT (Green Team), FP (FirstPerson) and JP (Java Products Group) Name Bill Joy
JP
Details
Jonni Kanerva
Yes
Tim Lindholm
Yes
Yes
Scott McNealy
Patrick Naughton
Yes
Yes
George Paolini
Kim Polese
Yes
Co-founder and VP, Sun Microsystems; Principal designer of the UC Berkeley, version of the UNIX® OS Java Products Group employee, author of The Java FAQ1 FirstPerson employee and member Java Products Group Chairman, President, and CEO of Sun Microsystems Green Team member, FirstPerson cofounder Corporate Marketing (Director), Suns Java Software Division FirstPerson product marketing
The demise of an idea, birth of another
GT FP Table 1: Whos who of the Java technology<ref name="CITEREFEarlyYearsSun1"/> Has worked for GT (Green Team), FP (FirstPerson) and JP (Java Products Group) Name Lisa Poulson
JP
Details
Wayne Rosing Eric Schmidt
Yes
Mike Sheridan
Yes
Original director of public relations for Java technology (BursonMarsteller) FirstPerson President Former Sun Microsystems Chief Technology Ofcer Green Team member
2.3 The demise of an idea, birth of another

By now, the work on Oak had been signicant but come the year 199321 , people saw the demise of set-top boxes, interactive TV and the PDAs. A failure that completely ushered the inventors thoughts to be reinvented. Only a miracle could make the project a success now. And such a miracle awaited anticipation. N ATIONAL C ENTER FOR S UPERCOMPUTING A PPLICATIONS22 (NCSA) had just unveiled its new commercial web browser for the internet the previous year. The focus of the team, now diverted towards where they thought the "next-wave" of computing would be the internet. The team then divulged into the realms of creating the same embeddable technology to be used in the web browser space calling it AN APPLET23 a small application. The team now needed a proper identity and they decided on naming the new technology they created Java ushering a new generation of products for the internet boom. A by-product of the project was a cartoon named "D UKE24 " created by Joe Parlang which became its identity then.
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H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /1993
H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /N A T I O N A L %20C E N T E R %20 F O R %20S U P E R C O M P U T I N G % 20A P P L I C A T I O N S 23 H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /A P P L E T 24 H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /D U K E %20%28 M A S C O T %29
History
Finally at the SunWorldTM conference, Andreesen unveiled the new technology to the masses. Riding along with the explosion of interest and publicity in the Internet, Java quickly received widespread recognition and expectations grew for it to become the dominant software for browser and consumer applications.<ref name="CITEREFClarkLindseyHistory1"/>
2.4 Recent history

Initially Java was owned by Sun Microsystems, but later it was released to open source; the term Java was a trademark of Sun Microsystems. Sun released the source code for its HotSpot Virtual Machine and compiler in November 2006, and the most of the source code of the class library in May 2007. Some parts were missing because they were owned by third parties, not by Sun Microsystems. The released parts were published under the terms of the GNU G ENERAL P UBLIC L ICENSE25 , a free software license.
2.5 Versions
Unlike C and C++, Javas growth is pretty recent. Here, wed quickly go through the development paths that Java took with age.
Figure 2: Development of Java over the years. From version 1.0 to version 1.7, Java has displayed a steady growth.
2.5.1 Initial Release (versions 1.0 and 1.1)

Introduced in 1996 for the S OLARIS26 , W INDOWS27 , M AC OS28 Classic and L INUX29 , Java was initially released as the Java Development Kit 1.0 (JDK 1.0). This included the Java runtime (the virtual machine and the class libraries), and the development tools (e.g., the Javac compiler). Later, Sun also provided a runtime-only package, called the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). The rst name stuck, however, so usually people refer to a particular version of Java by its JDK version (e.g., JDK 1.0).
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H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /GNU%20G E N E R A L %20P U B L I C %20L I C E N S E H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /S O L A R I S %20O P E R A T I N G %20E N V I R O N M E N T H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /M I C R O S O F T %20W I N D O W S H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /M A C %20OS H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /L I N U X
Versions
2.5.2 Java 2 (version 1.2)

Introduced in 1998 as a quick x to the former versions, version 1.2 was the start of a new beginning for Java. The JDKs of version 1.2 and later versions are often called Java 2 as well. For example, the ofcial name of JDK 1.4 is The Java(TM) 2 Platform, Standard Edition version 1.4. Major changes include: Rewrite the event handling (Add Event Listeners) Change Thread synchronizations Introduction of the JIT-Just in time compilers
2.5.3 Kestrel (Java 1.3) 2.5.4 Merlin (Java 1.4)

Java 1.4 has improved programmer productivity by expanding language features and available APIs Assertion Regular Expression XML processing Cryptography and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Non-blocking I/O(NIO) Logging
2.5.5 Tiger (version 1.5.0; Java SE 5)

Released in September 2004 Major changes include: G ENERICS30 - Provides compile-time type safety for collections :and eliminates the drudgery of casting. AUTOBOXING / UNBOXING31 - Eliminates the drudgery of manual conversion between primitive types (such as int) and wrapper types (such as Integer). Enhanced for - Shorten the for loop with Collections use. Static imports - Lets you import all the static part of a class. A NNOTATION32 /Metadata - Enabling tools to generate code and deployment descriptors from annotations in the source code. This leads to a "declarative" programming style where the programmer says what should be done and tools emit the code to do it. Annotations can be inspected through source parsing or by using the additional reection APIs added in Java 5.
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FP R I M I T I V E %20T Y P E S % 23A U T O B O X I N G %2F U N B O X I N G 32 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FA N N O T A T I O N
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Chapter 22 on page 119
History
JVM Improvements - Most of the run time library is now mapped into memory as a memory image, as opposed to being loaded from a series of class les. Large portion of the runtime libraries will now be shared among multiple JVM instances. (from HTTP :// JAVA . SUN . COM / FEATURES /2003/05/ BLOCH _ QA . HTML33 )
2.5.6 Mustang (version 1.6.0; Java SE 6)

Released on 11 December 2006.34 Whats New in Java SE 6: Web Services - First-class support for writing XML web service client applications. Scripting - You can now mix in JavaScript technology source code, useful for prototyping. Also useful when you have teams with a variety of skill sets. More advanced developers can plug in their own scripting engines and mix their favorite scripting language in with Java code as they see t. Database - No more need to nd and congure your own JDBC database when developing a database application! Developers will also get the updated JDBC 4.0, a well-used API with many important improvements, such as special support for XML as an SQL datatype and better integration of Binary Large OBjects (BLOBs) and Character Large OBjects (CLOBs) into the APIs. More Desktop APIs - GUI developers get a large number of new tricks to play like the ever popular yet newly incorporated SwingWorker utility to help you with threading in GUI apps, JTable sorting and ltering, and a new facility for quick splash screens to quiet impatient users. Monitoring and Management - The really big deal here is that you dont need do anything special to the startup to be able to attach on demand with any of the monitoring and management tools in the Java SE platform. Compiler Access - Really aimed at people who create tools for Java development and for frameworks like JavaServer Pages (JSP) or Personal Home Page construction kit (PHP) engines that need to generate a bunch of classes on demand, the compiler API opens up programmatic access to javac for in-process compilation of dynamically generated Java code. The compiler API is not directly intended for the everyday developer, but for those of you deafened by your screaming inner geek, roll up your sleeves and give it a try. And the rest of us will happily benet from the tools and the improved Java frameworks that use this. Pluggable Annotations allows programmer to write annotation processor so that it can analyse your code semantically before javac compiles. For example, you could write an annotation processor that veries whether your program obeys naming conventions.
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UNKNOWN TEMPLATE "cite web"
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Citations
Desktop Deployment - At long last, Java SE 6 unies the Java Plug-in technology and Java WebStart engines, which just makes sense. Installation of the Java WebStart application got a much needed makeover. Security - Java SE 6 has simplied the job of its security administrators by providing various new ways to access platform-native security services, such as native Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and cryptographic services on Microsoft Windows for secure authentication and communication, Java Generic Security Services (Java GSS) and Kerberos services for authentication, and access to LDAP servers for authenticating users. The -lities: Quality, Compatibility, Stability - Bug xes ...
2.5.7 Dolphin (version 1.7.0; Java SE 7)

Anticipated for 2010
2.6 Citations
C ATEGORY:J AVA P ROGRAMMING35
35
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History
12
3 The Java Platform

Points to ponder: The newer versions of Java, i.e., version 6.0 and 7.0 are being developed and are known by their code-names M USTANG1 and D OLPHIN2 respectively. You can test-ride their nightly builds, available online via the given links. The Java platform is the name for a computing environment, or PLATFORM3 , from S UN M I CROSYSTEMS 4 which can run applications developed using the J AVA PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE 5 and set of development tools. In this case, the platform is not a specic hardware or operating system, but rather an execution engine called a VIRTUAL MACHINE6 , and a set of standard libraries which provide common functionality. The platform is properly called the Java 2 Platform (although the "2" is to be dropped HTTP :// JAVA . SUN . COM / DEVELOPER / TECHNICAL A RTICLES / JAVAONE 2005/ NAMING . HTML 7 ), and includes a Standard Edition or J2SE8 (now Java SE), an E NTERPRISE9 Edition or J2EE10 (now Java EE), and a Micro Edition or J2ME11 (now Java ME). The current version of the Java 2 platform is alternatively specied as version 1.6 or version 6 (both refer to the same version). A good overview of the myriad of technologies that makes up the Java 2 Platform can be found on the JDK D OCUMENTATION PAGE12 .
3.1 Java technologies

The Java platform consists of a wide array of technologies, each of which provides a distinct portion of the overall development or runtime environment. For example, end-users typically interface with the J AVA VIRTUAL MACHINE13 and the standard set of class libraries. In addition, there are numerous ways for Java applications to be deployed, including being embedded into a web page. Lastly, developers who are creating applications for the platform use a set of development tools called the J AVA D EVELOPMENT K IT14 .
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The Java Platform
3.2 Java Runtime Environment

A program targeting the Java platform needs two components to be present on its host: a Java virtual machine, and a set of class libraries providing any services on which it depends. Suns distribution of their JVM and their implementation of the standard classes is known as the Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
3.2.1 Java Virtual Machine

The heart of the Java platform is the concept of a common "virtual" processor that executes J AVA BYTECODE 15 programs. This bytecode is the same no matter what hardware or operating system the program is running under. The Java platform provides an INTERPRETER16 called the J AVA VIRTUAL MACHINE 17 (JVM), which translates the Java bytecode into native processor instructions at run-time. This permits the same application to be run on any platform that has a virtual machine available. Since JRE version 1.2, Suns JVM implementation has also included a JUST- IN - TIME COMPILER18 . Instead of interpreting the bytecode one instruction at a time, this converts the bytecode for a program into equivalent native machine code as the program is loaded into the virtual machine, allowing it to execute much faster at the cost of a small delay whenever new bytecode is loaded. This allows the JIT compiler to target a specic host platform and hardware, even potentially optimizing the output code in different ways based on observations of the programs behaviour. This is not to say that one can truly compile Java code to its fullest extent (in order to reap the benets of speedy native machine code). Yes, there are "compilers" available that will attempt this feat, but not all Java libraries have a machine code equivalent. For instance, the "reect" library, which allows Java programmers to delve into instructions only available at runtime, is not well represented (if at all) by machine code. Java was not the rst virtual-machine-based platform, though it is by far the most successful and well-known. Previous uses for virtual machine technology primarily involved EMULATORS19 to aid development for not-yet-developed hardware or operating systems, but the JVM was designed to be implemented entirely in software, while making it easy to efciently port an implementation to hardware of all kinds.
3.2.2 Class libraries

In most modern operating systems, a large body of reusable code is provided to simplify the programmers job. This code is typically provided as a set of DYNAMICALLY LOADABLE LIBRARIES20
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Languages
that applications can call at runtime. Because the Java platform is not dependent on any specic operating system, applications cannot rely on any of the existing libraries. Instead, the Java platform provides a comprehensive set of standard class libraries, containing much of the same reusable functions commonly found in modern operating systems. The Java class libraries serve three purposes within the Java platform. Like other standard code libraries, they provide the programmer with a well-known set of functions to perform common tasks, such as maintaining lists of items or performing complex string parsing. In addition, the class libraries provide an abstract interface to tasks that would normally depend heavily on the hardware and operating system. Tasks such as network access and le access are often heavily dependent on the native capabilities of the platform. The Java java.net and java.io libraries implement the required native code internally, then provide a standard interface for the Java applications to perform those tasks. Finally, some underlying platforms may not support all of the features a Java application expects. In these cases, the class libraries can either emulate those features using whatever is available, or provide a consistent way to check for the presence of a specic feature.
3.3 Languages
The word Java, by itself, usually refers to the Java programming language which was designed for use with the Java platform. Programming languages are typically outside of the scope of the phrase "platform". However, Sun does not encourage the use of any other languages with the platform, and lists the Java programming language as a core part of the Java 2 platform. The language and runtime are therefore commonly considered a single unit. Nevertheless, third parties have produced a number of compilers which target the JVM. Some of these are for existing languages, while others are for extensions to the Java language itself. These include: G ROOVY21 P IZZA22 GJ23 (Generic Java), which was incorporated into ofcial Java as of Suns version 1.5. N ET REXX24
Another option is to use a more interface approach like the J YTHON25 .
3.4 Similar Platforms

The success of Java and its WRITE ONCE , RUN ANYWHERE26 concept has also led to other similar efforts. The most notable of these is the M ICROSOFT .NET27 platform, which borrows many of
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The Java Platform
the concepts and innovations of Java; in fact, it has an implementation of a Java-like language called V ISUAL J#28 (formerly known as J++29 ). (It is Java-like in that J# is not the Java language. Instead, J# contains non-standard extensions of the language.) Later Microsoft stopped, withdrew its J# support, and created a new language called C#. C# is very similar to J# and Java, but not compatible with them. The differences between Java and C# can be read at C OMPARISON OF C S HARP AND J AVA30 . C ATEGORY:J AVA P ROGRAMMING31
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H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /J%20S H A R P %20 P R O G R A M M I N G %20 L A N G U A G E H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /J%20 P L U S %20 P L U S H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /C O M P A R I S O N %20 O F %20C%20S H A R P %20 A N D %20J A V A H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /C A T E G O R Y %3AJ A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G
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4 Java Programming Environment

To compile Java programs, you will need to download and install the Java Development Kit (JDK). This is available from S UN S WEBSITE1 . Other hardware and operating system vendors also supply Java Development Kits for their platforms, although they may change the name of the kit. Sun produces JDKs for Windows, Linux, and Solaris. There are numerous environments you can use to develop your Java programs. You can choose to write your programs in a text editor and then compile them using the command line, or you can use an integrated development environment (IDE). IDEs like N ET B EANS2 and E CLIPSE3 provide many useful functions such as syntax error checking, code completion, automatic compilation and debugging, which you may nd useful, especially if this is your rst foray into programming.
4.1 The Java Compiler

The JDK consists of a set of tools necessary to construct Java programs. The most notable tool in the JDK is the Java compiler, also known as javac.
javac compiles Java source les into executable Java class les. Source les are text les with a .java le name extension. You can create such les with a text editor, like N OTEPAD4 , or an IDE. javac then compiles these les into loadable and executable class les, using the .class extension. For example, if you create a Java class org/wikibooks/util/PrintDate.java
package org.wikibooks.util; import java.util.Date; public class PrintDate { public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println(new Date()); } }
you can compile it by entering the following command in a command shell:
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H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / H T T P :// W W W . N E T B E A N S . O R G H T T P :// W W W . E C L I P S E . O R G H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /N O T E P A D
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Java Programming Environment
javac org/wikibooks/util/PrintDate.java
You would normally invoke this in a shell whose working directory is the root directory containing all of your source les resides. (The Java package statement, package org.wikibooks.util, corresponds to the directory structure org/wikibooks/util see J AVA PACKAGES5 .)
javac will create the le PrintDate.class in the same directory where the source le is located. If there are syntax errors, javac will print those to the shell. The PrintDate.class le contains
the byte code, that will run under all hardware where the Java runtime is installed. Even if the PrintDate.class le was created in Windows operating system, you can copy this le to unix and it will be executed ne. Usually there is more than one class le created and those les are packaged to a application_-
name.jar le to distribute to run in any hardware.

IDEs may manage this process automatically. For example, Eclipse contains its own Java compiler and thus does not use javac directly. It automatically compiles the Java source les when you save them. The use of IDEs such as Eclipse are beyond the scope of this module, however, so consult the IDEs tutorials and help to see how they provide a Java programming environment.
4.1.1 The bytecode

It should be clear from the above paragraph that the Java compiler compiles source code text les with the extension .java into executable code usually conned into a class le with the .class extension. Such code is called B YTECODE6 . In many languages prior to Java, the source code would generally compile into the machinecode for the particular machine the program was compiled upon. Therefore, if a program was compiled on an X86 MACHINE7 , it would run only on an X86 machine and no other. Java, on the other hand, produces a bytecode - an intermediate binary form of code that is a portable representation of the Java class. Any Java Virtual Machine on any hardware/operating system platform can then execute this same bytecode. There are some restrictions to this portability. For example, a Java ME system cannot execute all programs compiled for the Java SE environment because Java ME is pared down to small devices. But in general, a Java SE program can run unmodied on any Java SE virtual machine.
4.1.2 The JIT compiler

Being compiled halfway through, it is the job of the Java Virtual Machine to compile the rest of the program to native code at the time of its execution making Java code follow the "Write Once, Run Anywhere" (WORA) policy. The compiler used to compile bytecode into machine-code at runtime is called the Just-In-Time or JIT compiler. Once a piece of code is compiled by the JVM to execution code, the code is used and re-used again and again, to speed up execution.
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The Java Runtime Environment
4.2 The Java Runtime Environment

The Java Runtime Environment, or JRE, is responsible for the execution of Java programs. The Sun JDK also includes the JRE. The JRE however can also be installed and used without installing the JDK which is useful if you wish to execute Java programs but not build them. The JRE helps load Java programs into the memory and executes them.
4.2.1 Main entry point

In Java programming, CLASSES8 are used to dene objects and entities that hold particular data. To execute a Java program, a special class is required to assist in loading the program into the computers memory. Such a class contains a METHOD9 with the following signature.
public static void main(String[] args) {...}
The class is hence said to have a main entry point dened and is usually called a Java program. The method described above as the main entry point is usually nicknamed the main method. Java classes without main methods are simply classes, although they may be part of a program. Each Java class can have a main method, as opposed to C, and C++ where there can only be one, for the whole program. This feature is good in a sense that the main method can be implemented to do some testing on the class. The program must dene one classs main method as the entry point for the program.
4.2.2 Executing a command-line Java program

If a class which you compile with javac has a main entry point, you can execute the class by specifying the class name as an argument to the java program.
java org.wikibooks.util.PrintDate
This will run the main method in the PrintDate class in the org.wikibooks.util package. (Packages provide a convenient way to provide NAMESPACES10 and organization of Java classes. Well use org.wikibooks.util as a parent package in this module. M ORE ON PACKAGES11 .) Your program will begin execution in the shell window. Inputs and outputs will be gathered from and to your shell window. On a Windows platform, you can use a DOS12 command window as
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H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FJ A V A %20F O U N D A T I O N S % 23O B J E C T S %20 A N D %20C L A S S E S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FJ A V A %20F O U N D A T I O N S % 23M E T H O D S
Chapter 13 on page 79 Chapter 13 on page 79

H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /MSDOS
19
the command shell program for the execution of Java programs. The JRE is normally called java because the java program is the most widely used program to execute Java programs.
4.2.3 Executing a Graphical User Interface Java program

On the Windows platform, there is an alternate JRE executable called javaw.exe or javaw which runs Java programs as a Windows native application - that is, with no console for standard input or output.
javaw org.wikibooks.util.ViewDate
Rather than executing in the console, the Java program would be executed in a separate Windows native process. This is typically done for Java applications which create their own graphical user interface (GUI) windows. The above-mentioned org.wikibooks.util.PrintDate program, which prints output to the standard output stream, is not appropriate for use with javaw as there is no console output. Instead, org.wikibooks.util.ViewDate would be a program which creates its own windows to display the date. As with java, IDEs also manage the execution of Java programs in slightly different ways. They may provide shortcuts for running programs and windows for capturing the output. On UNIX/Linux this does not matter. If the program is launched graphically (by le association in a le manager) a console is not shown. GUI programs will have the titlebars following the look and feel of your desktop (KDE, GNOME, Fluxbox, XFCE) theme.
4.3 Other JDK tools

Apart from the tools specied above in detail, the JDK has matured over the years and has included in itself several other tools. Where some of these tools are no longer used, others offer a far greater deal of capability to the Java Development Kit. Below is a list of some of the tools available for the JDK.
4.3.1 The apt tool

In Java 1.5 (alias Java 5.0) Sun added a mechanism called annotations. Annotations allow the addition of meta-data to Java source code, and even provide mechanisms to carry that metadata forth into a compiled class les. Also starting with Java 1.5 Sun added the apt tool to the JDK. apt works on Java source code. It is an annotation processing tool which digs through source code, nds annotation statements in the source code and executes actions if it nds known annotations. The most common task is to generate some particular source code. The actions apt performs when nding annotations in the source code are not hard-coded into apt. Instead, one has to code particular annotation handlers (in Java). These handlers are called annotation processors.
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Other JDK tools
The most difcult thing with apt is that Sun decided to use a whole set of new terminology. apt can simply be seen as a source code preprocessor framework, and annotation processors are typically just code generators. See also: G ETTING S TARTED WITH THE A NNOTATION P ROCESSING T OOL ( APT )13
4.3.2 The appletviewer tool

Java applets require a particular environment to execute. Typically, this environment is provided by a browser with a Java plug-in, and a web server serving the applet. However, during development and testing of an applet it might be more convenient to start an applet without the need to ddle with a browser and a web server. In such a case, Suns appletviewer from the JDK can be used to run an applet.
4.3.3 The javah tool

A Java class can call native, or non-Java, code that has been prepared to be called from Java. The details and procedures are specied in the JNI (Java Native Interface). Commonly, native code is written in C (or C++). The JDK tool javah helps to write the necessary C code, by generating C header les and C stub code.
4.3.4 The extcheck tool

extcheck also appeared rst with Java 1.5. It can be used prior to the installation of a Java extension into the JDK or JRE environment. It checks if a particular Jar le conicts with an already installed extension.
4.3.5 Security Tools

The JDK comes with a large number of tools related to the security features of Java. Usage of these tools rst requires study of the particular security mechanisms. The tools are: keytool: To manage keys and certicates jarsigner: To generate and verify digital signatures of JARs (Java ARchives) policytool: To edit policy les kinit: To obtain Kerberos v5 tickets klist: To manage Kerberos credential cache and key table ktab: To manage entries in a key table
13
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4.3.6 The native2ascii tool

native2ascii is an important, though underappreciated, tool for writing properties les -- les containing conguration data -- or resource bundles -- les containing language translations of text. Such les can contain only ASCII and Latin-1 characters, but international programmers need a full range of character sets. Text using these characters can appear in properties les and resource bundles only if the non-ASCII and non-Latin-1 characters are converted into Unicode escape sequences (\uXXXX notation). The task of writing such escape sequences is handled by native2ascii. You can write the international text in an editor using the appropriate character encoding, then use native2ascii to generate the necessary ASCII text with embedded Unicode escape sequences. Despite the name, native2ascii can also convert from ASCII to native, so it is useful for converting an existing properties le or resource bundle back to some other encoding. native2ascii makes most sense when integrated into a build system to automate the conversion.
4.3.7 RMI Tools 4.3.8 Java IDL and RMI-IIOP Tools 4.3.9 Deployment & Web Start Tools 4.3.10 Browser Plug-In Tools 4.3.11 Monitoring and Management Tools / Troubleshooting Tools
With Java 1.5 a set of monitoring and management tools have been added to the JDK, in addition to a set of troubleshooting tools. The monitoring and management tools are intended for monitoring and managing the virtual machine and the execution environment. They allow, for example, monitoring memory usage during the execution of a Java program. The troubleshooting tools provide rather esoteric insight into aspects of the virtual machine. (Interestingly, the Java debugger is not categorized as a troubleshooting tool.) All the monitoring and management and troubleshooting tools are currently marked as "experimental" (which does not affect jdb). So they might disappear in future JDKs.
4.3.12 The Jar tool

Jar is short for Java archive. It is a tool for creating Java archives or jar les - a le with .jar as the extension. A Java archive is a collection of compiled Java classes and other resources which
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Other JDK tools
those classes may require (such as text les, conguration les, images) at runtime. Internally, a jar le is really a .zip FILE14 .
4.3.13 The jdb tool

Jdb is short for Java debugger. The Java debugger is a command-line console that provides a DE BUGGING 15 environment for Java programs. Although you can use this command line console, IDEs normally provide easier to use debugging environments. 
4.3.14 The Javadoc tool

As programs grow large and complex, programmers need ways to track changes and to understand the code better at each step of its evolution. For decades, programmer have been employing the use of special programming constructs called COMMENTS17 - regions that help declare user denitions for a code snippet within the source code. But comments are prone to be verbose and incomprehensible, let alone be difcult to read in applications having hundreds of lines of code. Java provides the user with a way to easily publish documentation about the code using a special commenting system and the javadoc tool. The javadoc tool generates documentation about the APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE18 (API) of a set of user-created Java classes. javadoc reads source le comments from the .java source les and generates HTML documents that are easier to read and understand without looking at the code itself.
4.3.15 The javap tool

Where Javadoc provide a detailed view into the API and documentation of a Java class, the javap tool prints information regarding members (constructors, methods and variables) in a class. In other words, it lists the class API and/or the compiled instructions of the class. javap is a formatting disassembler for Java bytecode. See
OTHER TOOLS 19
for all the tools that are bundled with Suns JDK.
C ATEGORY:J AVA P ROGRAMMING20
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H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /ZIP%20%28 F I L E %20 F O R M A T %29 H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /D E B U G G I N G H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /P R O G R A M M I N G %3AJ A V A %3AD E B U G G I N G %20 I N %20J A V A H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /P R O G R A M M I N G %3AJ A V A _C O M M E N T S H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /A P P L I C A T I O N %20 P R O G R A M M I N G %20 I N T E R F A C E H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / J 2 S E /1.5.0/ D O C S / T O O L D O C S / I N D E X . H T M L H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /C A T E G O R Y %3AJ A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G
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5 Installation
To formally begin programming in Java, you would need to obtain the Java software necessary and install it on your system. This section will help you set up any system with the latest Java software. There are two things you need to have on your computer to develop Java programs: a way to make the programs, and a way to write those programs. The following sections will describe both.
5.1 Windows
5.1.1 Download/Install
Downloading the program involves navigating to the website HTTP :// JAVA . SUN . COM / JAVASE / DOWNLOADS / INDEX . JSP 1 . Here you are presented by a wide array of choices. Dont fret. For the moment, all you need is the JDK, so click on the red button with "Download JDK" inside. If you want to add something like Netbeans to your system, its easy enough to do that at a later period. Once downloaded, go through the install process, reading and agreeing to the terms and conditions. I recommend you keep everything at their default settings to keep things simple.
5.1.2 Editor
With your system set up youll want a method of writing your java les. Later on, you might want to think about getting an IDE such as Netbeans. IDEs make it convenient if you work as part of a large team in an industrial environment. They do a lot of work for you, but if you dont fully understand the Java code itself, an IDE can do more harm than good. So its recommended for the starting chapter that you use a text editor. You can use notepad, which is default on all Windows operating systems. However, there is a free and open source program called Notepad++, which you can download from HTTP :// NOTEPAD PLUS . SOURCEFORGE . NET 2 . This program is designed to be used as a programmers notepad, with whats called syntax highlighting, which is a way of colouring text based on various keywords. This makes the code more readable, and it can be easier to spot errors in code.
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Installation
5.2 Ubuntu Linux

5.2.1 Download/Install
Downloading and installing the Java Development Kit on Ubuntu (and most other linux distributions) is incredibly simple, open up terminal (press ALT+F2 and type xterm or gnome-terminal) and type or copy the following (to copy, select and press middle button on the terminal window):
sudo apt-get install openjdk-6-jdk openjdk-6-jre openjdk-6-doc

And everything is set.
5.2.2 Editor
Gedit is the default program provided when Ubuntu is installed. Think of it like the windows notepad, but much better. Because Linux is made by hackers and programmers, the default notepad provided has all the things youd expect a programmers writer to have. The Notepad++ equivalent for Linux is Scite, if you feel like installing it you can use the command:
sudo apt-get install scite
5.3 External Links

S UN S WEBSITE3 J AVA .N ET JDK REPOSITORY4 C ATEGORY:J AVA P ROGRAMMING5
3 4 5
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6 Compilation
We have already discussed COMPILATION BASICS 1 . Heres a recap of the concepts wed seen earlier and some additional details.
6.1 Compiling to bytecode

In Java, programs are not compiled into executable les; they are compiled into B YTECODE2 (as discussed EARLIER3 ), which the JVM then executes at runtime. Java source code is compiled into bytecode when we use the javac compiler. The bytecode gets saved on the disk with the le extension .class. When the program is to be run, the bytecode is converted, using the J USTI N -T IME ( JIT ) COMPILER4 . The result is machine code which is then fed to the memory and is executed. So Java has two step compilation: Step one to create byte-code Step two to create machine level code The Java classes/Byte Codes are compiled to machine code and loaded into memory by the JVM when needed the rst time. This is different than other languages like C/C++ where the whole program had to be compiled to machine code and linked to create an executable le, before the program could start. JIT compilers compile byte-code once and the compiled machine code are re-used again and again, to speed up execution. Early Java compilers compiled the byte-code to machine code each time it was used, but more modern compilers cache this machine code for reuse on the machine. Even then, javas JIT compiling was still faster than an "interpreter-language", where code is compiled from high level language, instead of from byte-code each time it was used.
6.2 Automatic Compilation of Dependent Classes

In Java, if you have used any reference to any other java object, then the class for that object will be automatically compiled, if that was not compiled already. These automatic compilations are nested, and this continues until all classes are compiled that are needed to run the program. It is usually enough to compile only the high level class, since all the dependent classes will be
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Chapter 4.1.1 on page 18 Chapter 4.1.2 on page 18
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Compilation
automatically compiled.
javac ... MainClass.java
However, you cant rely on this feature if your program is using reection to create objects, or you are compiling for servlets or a "jar" package. In these cases you should list these classes for explicit compilation.
javac ... MainClass.java, ServletOne.java, ...
The best way is to use a build tool to build your application. The build tool would check all the needed dependencies and compile only the needed class for the build. The A NT5 tool is the best and the most popular build tool currently available. Using A NT6 you would build your application from the command line by typing:
ant build.xml
The xml le contains all the information needed to build the application. Note: In rare cases, your code may appear to compile correctly but the program behaves as if you were using an old copy of the source code (or otherwise reports errors during runtime.) When this occurrs, you may need to clean your compilation folder by either deleting the class les or using the Clean command from the IDE. The next most popular way to build applications are using an IDE. IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment, examples of which are listed below.
6.3 Packages, Subdirectories, and Resources

Each Java top level class belongs to a package (covered in the chapter about PACKAGES7 ). This may be declared in a package statement at the beginning of the le; if that is missing, the class belongs to the unnamed package. For compilation, the le must be in the right directory structure. A le containing a class in the unnamed package must be in the current/root directory; if the class belongs to a package, it must be in a directory with the same name as the package. The convention is that package names and directory names corresponding to the package consist of only lower case letters.
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Chapter 6.13 on page 31 Chapter 6.13 on page 31 Chapter 13 on page 79
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Filename Case
Example: Top level package. A class with this package declaration package example; has to be in a directory named example
Example: Subpackages. A class with this package declaration package org.wikibooks.en; has to be in the org/wikibooks/en directory. Java programs often contain non-code les such as images and properties les. These are referred to generally as resources and stored in directories local to the classes in which theyre used. For example, if the class com.example.ExampleApp uses the icon.png le, this le could be stored as /com/example/resources/icon.png. These resources present a problem when a program is complied, because javac does not copy them to wherever the .class les are being complied to (see above); it is up to the programmer to move the resource les and directories. See also the section on how to automate this using ant8 , below.
6.4 Filename Case

The Java source le name must be the same as the public class name, the le contains. There can be only one public class dened per le. The Java class name is case sensitive, as is the source le name. The naming convention for the class name is for it to start with a capital letter.
6.5 Compiler Options

6.5.1 Debugging and Symbolic Information
6.6 Additional Tools

6.6.1 IDEs
This section contains a little about the different IDEs available and their strengths and weaknesses.
6.7 JBuilder
JBuilder is a IDE with proprietary source code, sold by B ORLAND9 . One of the advantages in integration with together, a modeling tool.
8 9 Chapter 6.13 on page 31
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6.8 JCreator
Theres info at: http://www.apcomputerscience.com/ide/jcreator/index.htm
6.9 Eclipse
Eclipse is a free IDE, plus a developer tool framework that can be extended for a particular development need. IBM was behind this free software development and it replaced IBM Visual Age tool. The idea was to create a standard look and feel that can be extended. The extendibility has distinguished Eclipse from other IDE tools. Eclipse also meant to compete with Microsoft Visual Studio tools. Microsoft tools give a standard way of developing code in the Microsoft world. Eclipse gives a similar standard way of developing code in the Java world, with big success so far. With the online error checking only, coding can be speed up by at least 50%(coding does not include programming). The goal for Eclipse are twofold: Give a standard IDE for developing code Give a starting point, and the same look and feel for all other more sophisticated tools built on Eclipse IBMs WSAD, and later IBM Rational Software Development Platform are built on Eclipse. Standard Eclipse features: Standard window management (perspectives, views, browsers, explorers, ...) As you type error checking (immediate error indications, ...) As you type help window (type ., or <ctrl> space, ...) Automatic build (changed source code automatically compiled, ...) Built in debugger (full featured GUI debugger) Source code generation (getters and setters, ...) Searches (for implementation, for references, ...) Code refactoring (global reference update, ...) Plug-in-based architecture (be able to build tools that integrate seamlessly with the environment and other tools) ... For more information see; E CLIPSE 10 . P LUGINCENTRAL11
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NetBeans
6.10 NetBeans
The NetBeans IDE is a free, open-source Integrated Development Environment for software developers. The IDE runs on many platforms including Windows, Linux, Solaris, and the MacOS. It is easy to install and use straight out of the box. The NetBeans IDE provides developers with all the tools they need to create professional cross-platform desktop, enterprise, web and mobile applications. More info can be found at http://www.netbeans.org/products/ide/
6.11 BlueJ
BlueJ is an IDE that includes templates and will compile and run the applications for you. BlueJ is often used by classes because it is not necessary to set classpaths. BlueJ has its own sets of Librarys and you can add your own under preferences. That sets the classpath for all compilations that come out of it to include those you have added and the BlueJ libraries. BlueJ offers an interesting GUI for the creation of packages and programs. Classes are represented as boxes with arrows running between them to represent inheritance/implementation or if one is constructed in another. BlueJ adds all those classes (the project) into the classpath at compile time. B LUE J H OMESITE12
6.12 Kawa
Kawa was developed by Tek-Tools. It is basically a Java editor which does not include wizards, and GUI tools. It is best suited to experienced Java programmers in small and midsized development teams. The latest version is 4.0, you can See a JAVAWORLD ARTICLE15
DOWNLOAD IT. 13
For more info. see K AWA FROM TEK - TOOLS14 .
It looks that there is no new development for Kawa.
6.13 Ant
For comprehensive information about all aspects of Ant, please see the A NT W IKIBOOK16 .
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Compilation
Ant is a build management tool designed to replace make as the tool for automated builds of large Java applications. Like Java, and unlike make, Ant is designed to be platform independent. Building a Java application requires certain tasks to be performed. Those tasks may include not only compiling the code, but also copying les, packaging the program into a jar le, running tests and so on. Some of these tasks may depend upon others having been done previously (not creating a jar unless the program has been complied, for instance). It might also be a good idea to not execute all tasks every time the program is complied -- e.g. to only compile changed source les. Ant makes all of these things easy. The tasks and their dependencies are dened in a build.xml le, generally kept in the root directory of the java project. Ant parses this le and executes the tasks therein. Below we give an example build.xml le. Ant tool is written in Java and is open source, so it can be extended if there is a task youd like to be done during the build that is not in the pre-dened tasks list. It is very easy to hook your ant task code to the other tasks: your code only needs to be in the classpath, and the Ant tool will load it at runtime. For more information about writing your own Ant tasks, please see the project website at http://ant.apache.org/. UNKNOWN TEMPLATE "code"
6.14 The JIT compiler

The standard JIT compiler runs on demand. When a method is called repeatedly, the JIT compiler analyzes the bytecode and produces highly efcient machine code, which runs very fast. The JIT compiler is smart enough to recognize when the code has already been compiled, so as the application runs, compilation happens only as needed. As Java applications run, they tend to become faster and faster, because the JIT can perform runtime proling and optimization to the code to meet the execution environment. Methods or code blocks which do not run often receive less optimization; those which run often (so called hotspots) receive more proling and optimization.
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7 Execution
There are various ways in which Java code can be executed. A complex Java application usually uses third party APIs or services. In this section we list the most popular ways a piece of Java code may be packed together and/or executed.
7.1 JSE code execution

Java language rst edition came out in the client-server era. Thick clients were developed with rich GUI interfaces. Java rst edition, JSE (Java Standard Edition) had/has the following in its belt: GUI capabilities (AWT, Swing) Network computing capabilities (RMI1 ) Multi-tasking capabilities (Threads) With JSE the following Java code executions are possible:
../tmp/3.jpg
Figure 3: Figure 1: Stand alone execution
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Execution
Stand alone Java application : (Figure 1) Stand alone application refers to a Java program where both the user interface and business modules are running on the same computer. The application may or may not use a database to persist data. The user interface could be either AWT or Swing. The application would start with a main() method of a Class. The application stops when the main() method exits, or if an exception is thrown from the application to the JVM. Classes are loaded to memory and compiled as needed, either from the le system or from a *.jar le, by the JVM. Invocation of Java programs distributed in this manner requires usage of the command line. Once the user has all the class les, he needs to launch the application by the following command line (where Main is the name of the class containing the main() method.)
java Main
Java jar class libraries : Utility classes, framework classes, and/or third party classes are usually packaged and distributed in Java *.jar les. These jar les need to be put in the CLASSPATH of the java program from which these classes are going to be used. If a jar le is executable, it can be run from the command line:
java -jar Application.jar
../tmp/4.jpg
Figure 4: Figure 2: Applet Execution
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JSE code execution Java Applet code : (Figure 2) Java Applets are Java code referenced from HTML2 pages, by the <APPLET> tag. The Java code is downloaded from a server and runs in the client browser JVM. Java has built-in support to render applets in the browser window. Sophisticated GUI clients were found hard to develop, mostly because of the download time, incompatibilities between browsers JVM, and its communication requirements back to the server. Applets are rarely used today, and are most commonly used as small, separate graphic-like animation applets. The popularity of Java declined when Microsoft withdrew its Java support from I NTERNET E XPLORER3 default conguration, however, the plugin is still available as a free download from JAVA . COM4 . More information can be found about applets at the A PPLET C HAPTER5 , in this book. Also, Wikipedia has an article about J AVA A PPLETS6 . Client Server applications : The client server applications consist of a front-end, and a backend part, both running on a separate computer. The idea is that the business logic would be on the back-end part of the program, which would be reused by all the clients. Here the challenge is to achieve a separation between front-end user interface code, and the back-end business logic code. The communication between the front-end and the back-end can be achieved by two ways. One way is to dene a data communication PROTOCOL7 between the two tiers. The back-end part would listen for an incoming request. Based on the PROTOCOL8 it interprets the request and sends back the result in data form. The other way is to use J AVA R EMOTE I NVOCATION9 (RMI). With the use of RMI, a remote object can be created and used by the client. In this case Java objects are transmitted across the network. More information can be found about client-server programming, with sample code, at the C LIENT S ERVER C HAPTER10 in this book. Web Applications : For applications needed by lots of client installations, the client-server model did not work. Maintaining and upgrading the hundreds or thousands of clients caused a problem. It was not practical. The solution to this problem was to create a unied, standard client, for all applications, and that is the B ROWSER11 .
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Execution
Having a standard client, it makes sense to create a unied, standard back-end service as well, and that is the A PPLICATION S ERVER12 . Web Application is an application that is running in the A PPLICATION S ERVER13 , and it can be accessed and used by the B ROWSER14 client. There are three main area of interest in Web Applications, those are: The W EB B ROWSER15 . This is the container of rendering HTML text, and running client scripts The HTTP16 PROTOCOL17 . Text data are sent back and forth between Browser and the Server The W EB SERVER18 to serve static content, A PPLICATION SERVER19 to serve dynamic content and host EJB20 s. Wikipedia also has an article about W EB APPLICATION21 .
7.2 J2EE code execution

As the focus was shifting from reaching GUI clients to thin client applications, with Java version 2, Sun introduced J2EE (Java 2 Extended Edition). J2EE added : C OMPONENTS B ASE A RCHITECTURE22 , (Servlet, JSP, EJB Containers) With J2EE the following Java component executions are possible:
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
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J2EE code execution
Figure 5: Figure 3: Servlet Execution
Java Servlet code : (Figure 3) Java got its popularity with server side programming, more specifically with J2EE23 servlets. Servlets are running in a simple J2EE framework to handle client HTTP24 requests. They are meant to replace CGI PROGRAMMING25 for web pages rendering dynamic content. The servlet is running in a so called servlets responsibility is to:
SERVLET- CONTAINER / WEB CONTAINER 26 .
The
Handle the request by doing the business logic computation, Connecting to a database if needed, Create HTML to present to the user through the browser The HTML output represents both the presention logic and the results of the business computations. This represents a huge problem, and there is no real application relying only on servlets to handle the presention part of the responsibility. There are two main solutions to this: Use a template tool (Store the presentation part in an HTML le, marking the areas that need to be replaced after business logic computations).
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Execution
Use JSP (See next section) Wikipedia also has an article about S ERVLETS27 .
Figure 6: Figure 4: Jsp Execution
Java Server Pages (JSP) code : (Figure 4) JSP is an HTML le with embedded Java code inside. The rst time the JSP is accessed, the JSP is converted to a Java Servlet. This servlet outputs HTML which has inside the result of the business logic computation. There are special JSP tags that helps to add data dynamically to the HTML. Also JSP technology allows to create custom tags. Using the JSP technology correctly, business logic computations should not be in the embedded Java part of the JSP . JSP should be used to render the presentation of the static and dynamic data. Depending on the complexity of the data, 100% separation is not easy to achieve. Using custom tags, however may help to get closer to 100%. This is advocated also in MVC28 architecture (see below).
27 28
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J2EE code execution
Figure 7: Figure 5: EJB Execution
EJB code : (Figure 5) In the 1990s, with the client server computing, a trend started, that is to move away from Mainfraim computing. That resulted in many small separate applications in a Company/Enterprise. Many times the same data was used in different applications. A new philosophy, "Enterprise Computing", was created to address these issues. The idea was to create components that can be reused throughout the Enterprise. The Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs) were supposed to address this. An EJB is an application component that runs in an EJB container. The client accesses the EJB modules through the container, never directly. The container manages the life cycle of the EJB modules, and handles all the issues that arise from network/enterpise computing. Some of those are SECURITY / ACCESS CONTROL29 , OB JECT POOLING 30 , TRANSACTION MANAGEMENT 31 , ... . EJBs have the same problems as any reusable code: they need to be generic enough to be able to be reused and the changes or maintenance of EJBs can affect existing clients. Many times EJBs are used unnecessarily when they are not really needed. An EJB should be designed as a separate application in the enterprise, fullling one function.
29 30 31
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Execution
../tmp/8.png
Figure 8: Figure 6: MVC Execution
Combine J2EE components to create an MVC architecture : This leads us to the three layers/tiers as shown in (Figure 6). In modern web applications, with lots of static data and nice graphics, how the data is presented to the user became very important and usually needs the help of a graphic artist. To help programmers and graphic artists to work together, the separation between data, code, and how it is presented became crucial. The view (User Interface Logic) contains the logic that is necessary to construct the presentation. This could be handled by JSP technology. The servlet acts as the controller and contains the logic that is necessary to process user events and to select an appropriate response.
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Jini
The business logic (model) actually accomplishes the goal of the interaction. This might be a query or an update to a database. This could be handled by EJB technology. For more information about MVC, please see MVC32 .
7.3 Jini
After J2EE Sun had a vision about the next step of network computing. That is J INI33 . The main idea is that in a network environment, there would be many independent services and consumers. Jini would allow these services/consumers to interact dynamically with each other in a robust way. The basic features of Jini are: No user intervention is needed when services are brought on or ofine. (In contrast to EJBs where the client program has to know the server and port number where the EJB is deployed, in Jini the client is supposed to nd, to discover, the service in the network.) Self healing by adapting when services (consumers of services) come and go. (Services periodically need to renew a lease to indicate that they are still available.) Consumers of JINI services do not need prior knowledge of the services implementation. The implementation is downloaded dynamically and run on the consumer JVM, without conguration and user intervention. (For example, the end user may be presented with a slightly different user interface depending upon which service is being used at the time. The implementation of the user interface code would be provided by the service being used.) A minimal Jini network environment consists of: One or more services A lookup-service keeping a list of registered services One or more consumers Jini is not widely used at the current writing (2006). There are two possible reasons for it. One is Jini a bit complicated to understand and to set it up. The other reason is that Microsoft pulled out from Java, which caused the industry to turn to the use of proprietary solutions. C ATEGORY:J AVA P ROGRAMMING34
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Execution
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8 First Java Program

8.1 Hello World
Generally when you rst start programming in any language, youll start with the traditional Hello World example. That said, lets start building your rst Java program. You guessed it, its Hello World! Before starting this exercise, make sure you know how to COMPILE1 and RUN2 Java programs. Open your IDE and write the following text. Pay close attention to capitalization, as Java is case sensitive.
public class HelloWorld { public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println(string);
} }
Save it as HelloWorld.java. Again, make sure that the lename is the same case as the class name. Compile and run it:
javac HelloWorld.java java HelloWorld
Your computer should display

Hello, world!
8.1.1 Line-by-line Analysis

The rst line of the class,
public class HelloWorld {
declares a Java class named HelloWorld. This class is declared public - it is available to any other class. The next line,
1 2
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First Java Program
public static void main(String[] args) {
begins a Java method named main. The main method is where Java will start executing the program. args is a method parameter which will contain the command line arguments used to run the program. The method must be both public and static for the program to run correctly. For more information on modiers such as public and static, see A CCESS M ODIFIERS3 , though at this level, you dont need to know a whole lot about them. The
System.out.println(string);
statement sends the text Hello, world! to the console (with a line terminator). The nal two braces mark the end of the main method and the end of the class.
8.2 Modifying the Program

Now, we will modify this program to print the rst command line argument, if there is one, along with the greeting. For example, if you invoke the program as
java HelloWorld wikibooks
it will print
Hello, wikibooks!
Go back to the program, and modify it to read

public class HelloWorld { public static void main(String[] args) { String who; if (args.length > 0) {
who = args[0]; } else { who = string; } System.out.println(string + who + string); } }
Run it again. It should display
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Common Problems
Hello, wikibooks!
or, if you do not pass a command line parameter, it will simply print
Hello, World!
Wikipedia has a hello world sample for each type of java code, for more information see J AVA ( PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE )#H ELLO WORLD4
8.3 Common Problems

If the program does not work as you expect, check the following common errors. Are you sure all words are spelled correctly and with the exact case as shown? Are there semicolons and brackets in the appropriate spot? Are you missing a quote? Usually, modern IDEs would try coloring the entire source as a quote in this case. Are you launching the javac or java correctly? Javac requires the full lename with the .java extension, while java requires the class name itself.
8.4 The Next Step

Now that you have seen the classic Hello, World program in Java, lets move on to a more realistic example which highlights the object oriented nature of Java. Visit U NDERSTANDING A J AVA P RO GRAM 5 which presents key Java language features along with a more complete explanation of the syntax and structure of a basic Java program.
/H ELLO CS :K URZ PROGRAMOVN V J AV E PROGRAMA
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W ORLD6
PT:J AVA /C RIANDO E EXECUTANDO O PRIMEIRO
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First Java Program
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9 Understanding a Java Program

This article presents a small Java program which can be run from the console. It computes the distance between two points on a plane. You need not understand the structure and meaning of the program just yet; we will get to that soon. Also, because the program is intended as a simple introduction, it has some room for improvement, and later in the module we will show some of these improvements. But lets not get too far ahead of ourselves!
9.1 The Distance Class: Intent, Source, and Use

This class is named Distance, so using your favorite editor or Java IDE, rst create a le named Distance.java, then copy the source below and paste it into the le and save the le.
public class Distance { private java.awt.Point point0, point1; public Distance(int x0, int y0, int x1, int y1) { point0 = new java.awt.Point(x0, y0); point1 = new java.awt.Point(x1, y1); } public void printDistance() { System.out.println("Distance between " + point0 + " and " + point1 + " is " + point0.distance(point1)); } public static void main(String[] args) { Distance dist = new Distance( intValue(args[0]), intValue(args[1]), intValue(args[2]), intValue(args[3])); dist.printDistance(); } private static int intValue(String data) { return Integer.parseInt(data); } }
At this point, you may wish to review the source to see how much you might be able to understand. While perhaps not being the most literate of programming languages, someone with understanding of other procedural languages such as C, or other OO languages such as C++ or C#, will be able to understand most if not all of the sample program.
47
Understanding a Java Program Once you save the le, COMPILE1 the program:
javac Distance.java
(If the javac command fails, review the J AVA INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS2 .) To run the program, you supply it with the x and y coordinates of two points on a plane. (For this version of Distance, only integer points are supported.) The command sequence is
java Distance x0 y0 x1 y1
to compute the distance between the points (x0 , y0 ) and (x1 , y1 ) For example, the command
java Distance 0 3 4 0
will compute the distance between the points (0,3) and (4,0) and print the following:
Distance between java.awt.Point[x=0,y=3] and java.awt.Point[x=4,y=0] is 5.0
The command
java Distance -4 5 11 19
will compute the distance between the points (-4,5) and (11,19):
Distance between java.awt.Point[x=-4,y=5] and java.awt.Point[x=11,y=19] is 20.518284528683193
Well explain this strange looking output, and also show how to improve it, later.
9.2 Detailed Program Structure and Overview

As promised, we will now provide a detailed description of this Java program. We will discuss the syntax and structure of the program and the meaning of that structure.
1 2
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Detailed Program Structure and Overview
9.2.1 Introduction to Java Syntax

The syntax of a Java class is the characters and symbols and their structure used to code the class using Unicode characters. A fuller treatment of the syntax elements of Java may be found at S YNTAX3 . We will provide here only enough description of the syntax to grasp the above program. Java programs consist of a sequence of tokens. There are different kinds of tokens. For example, there are word tokens such as class and public which represent KEYWORDS4 - special words with reserved meaning in Java. Other words (non keywords such as Distance, point0, x1, and printDistance) are identiers. Identiers have many different uses in Java but primarily they are used as names. Java also has tokens to represent numbers, such as 1 and 3; these are known as LITERALS5 . S TRING LITERALS6 , such as "Distance between ", consist of zero or more characters embedded in double quotes, and OPERATORS7 such as + and = are used to express basic computation such as addition or String concatenation or assignment. There are also left and right braces ({ and }) which enclose BLOCKS8 . The body of a class is one such block. Some tokens are punctuation, such as periods . and commas , and semicolons ;. You use WHITESPACE9 such as spaces, tabs, and newlines, to separate tokens. For example, whitespace is required between keywords and identiers: publicstatic is a single identier with twelve characters, not two Java keywords.
9.2.2 Declarations and Denitions

Sequences of tokens are used to construct the next building blocks of Java classes: declarations and denitions. A class declaration provides the name and visibility of a class. For our example,
public class Distance
is the class declaration. It consists (in this case) of two keywords, P U B L I C 10 and C L A S S 11 followed by the identier Distance. This means that we are dening a class named Distance. Other classes, or in our case, the command line, can refer to the class by this name. The public keyword is an ACCESS MODIFIER12 which declares that this class and its members may be accessed from other classes. The class keyword, obviously, identies this declaration as a class. Java also allows declarations of INTERFACES 13 and (as of Java 5) ANNOTATIONS 14 .
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Chapter 10.2 on page 59

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Understanding a Java Program
The class declaration is then followed by a block (surrounded by curly braces) which provides the classs denition. The denition is the implementation of the class - the declaration and denitions of the classs members. This class contains exactly six members, which we will explain in turn. 1. Two eld declarations, named point0 and point1 2. A constructor declaration 3. Three method declarations
Example: Instance Fields The declaration

private java.awt.Point point0, point1;
declares two INSTANCE FIELDS15 . Instance elds represent named values that are allocated whenever an instance of the class is constructed. When a Java program creates a Distance instance, that instance will contain space for point0 and point1. When another Distance object is created, it will contain space for its own point0 and point1 values. The value of point0 in the rst Distance object can vary independently of the value of point0 in the second Distance object. This declaration consists of: 1. The P R I V A T E 16 access modier, which means these instance elds are not visible to other classes. 2. The type of the instance elds. In this case, the type is java.awt.Point. This is the class Point in the java.awt package. 3. The names of the instance elds in a comma separated list. These two elds could also have been declared with two separate but more verbose declarations,
private java.awt.Point point0; private java.awt.Point point1;
Since the types of these elds is a reference type (i.e. a eld that refers to or can hold a reference to an object value), Java will implicitly initialize the values of point0 and point1 to null when a Distance instance is created. The null value means that a reference value does not refer to an object. The special Java literal, null is used to represent the null value in a program. While you can explicitly assign null values in a declaration, as in
private java.awt.Point point0 = null; private java.awt.Point point1 = null;
it is not necessary and most programmers omit such default assignments.
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H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FI N S T A N C E %20F I E L D S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FK E Y W O R D S %2F P R I V A T E
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Example: Constructor A CONSTRUCTOR17 is a special method in a class which is used to construct an instance of the class. The constructor can perform initialization for the object, beyond that which the Java VM does automatically. For example, Java will automatically initialize the elds point0 and point1 to null. Below is the constructor for this class. It consists of ve parts: 1. The optional ACCESS MODIFIER ( S )18 . In this case, the constructor is declared public 2. The constructor name, which must match the class name exactly: Distance in this case. 3. The constructor PARAMETERS19 . The parameter list is required. Even if a constructor does not have any parameters, you must specify the empty list (). The parameter list declares the type and name of each of the methods parameters. 4. An optional throws clause which declares the exceptions that the constructor may throw. This constructor does not declare any exceptions. 5. The constructor body, which is a Java BLOCK20 (enclosed in {}). This constructors body contains two statements.
public Distance(int x0, int y0, int x1, int y1) { point0 = new java.awt.Point(x0, y0); point1 = new java.awt.Point(x1, y1); } This constructor accepts four parameters, named x0, y0, x1 and y1. Each parameter requires a parameter
type declaration, which in this example is int for all four parameters. Java integer values are signed, 32 bit twos complement integers. The parameters in the parameter list are separated by commas. The two assignments in this constructor use Javas new operator to allocate two java.awt.Point objects. The rst allocates an object representing the rst point, (x0, y0), and assigns it to the point0 instance variable (replacing the null value that the instance variable was initialized to). The second statement allocates a second java.awt.Point instance with (x1, y1) and assigns it to the point1 instance variable. This is the constructor for the Distance class. Distance implicitly extends from java.lang.Object. Java inserts a call to the super constructor as the rst executable statement of the constructor if there is not one explicitly coded. The above constructor body is equivalent to the following body with the explicit super constructor call:
{ super(); point0 = new java.awt.Point(x0, y0); point1 = new java.awt.Point(x1, y1); }
17 18 19 20
Chapter 16.7 on page 95 Chapter 15 on page 87

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While it is true that this class could be implemented in other ways, such as simply storing the coordinates of the two points and computing the distance as (x 1 x 0 )2 + ( y 1 y 0 )2 , this class instead uses the existing java.awt.Point class. This choice matches the abstract denition of this class: to print the distance between two points on the plane. We take advantage of existing behavior already implemented in the Java platform rather than implementing it again. We will see later how to make the program more exible without adding much complexity, because we choose to use object abstractions here. However, the key point is that this class uses information hiding. That is, how the class stores its state or how it computes the distance is hidden. We can change this implementation without altering how clients use and invoke the class.
Example: Methods Methods are the third and most important type of class member. This class contains three methods in which the behavior of the Distance class is dened: printDistance(), main(), and
intValue()
The printDistance() method The printDistance() method prints the distance between the two points to the standard output (normally the console).
public void printDistance() { System.out.println("Distance between " + point0 + " and " + point1 + " is " + point0.distance(point1)); }
This INSTANCE METHOD21 executes within the context of an implicit Distance object. The instance eld references, point0 and point1, refer to instance elds of that implicit object. You can also use the special variable this to explicitly reference the current object. Within an instance method, Java binds the name this to the object on which the method is executing, and the type of this is that of the current class. The body of the printDistance method could also be coded as
System.out.println("Distance between " + this.point0 + " and " + this.point1 + " is " + this.point0.distance(this.point1)); }
to make the instance eld references more explicit. This method both computes the distance and prints it in one statement. The distance is computed with point0.distance(point1); distance() is an instance method of the java.awt.Point class (of which point0 and point1 are instances. The method operates on point0 (binding this to the object that point0 refers to during the execution of the method)
21
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FI N S T A N C E %20M E T H O D S
52
and accepting another Point as a parameter. (Actually, it is slightly more complicated than that, but well explain later.) The result of the distance() method is a double precision oating point number. This method uses the syntax
"Distance between " + this.point0 + " and " + this.point1 + " is " + this.point0.distance(this.point1)
to construct a String to pass to the System.out.println(). This expression is a series of S TRING CONCATENATION22 methods which concatenates Strings or the String representation of primitive types (such as doubles) or objects, and returns a long string. For example, the result of this expression for the points (0,3) and (4,0) is the String
"Distance between java.awt.Point[x=0,y=3] and java.awt.Point[x=4,y=0] is 5.0"
which the method then prints to System.out. In order to print, we invoke the println(). This is an instance method from java.io.PrintStream, which is the type of the static eld out in the class java.lang.System. The Java VM binds System.out to the standard output stream when it starts a program.
The main() method The main() method is the main entry point which Java invokes when you start a Java program from the command line. The command
java Distance 0 3 4 0
instructs Java to locate the Distance class, put the four command line arguments into an array of String values, then pass those arguments the public static main(String[]) method of the class. (We will introduce arrays shortly.) Any Java class that you want to invoke from the command line or desktop shortcut must have a main method with this signature.
public static void main(String[] args) { Distance dist = new Distance( intValue(args[0]), intValue(args[1]), intValue(args[2]), intValue(args[3])); dist.printDistance(); }
22
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The main() method invokes the nal method, intValue(), four times. The intValue() takes a single string parameter and returns the integer value represented in the string. For example, intValue("3") will return the integer 3.
The intValue() method The intValue() method delegates its job to the Integer.parseInt() method. The main method could have called Integer.parseInt() directly; the intValue() method simply makes the main() method slightly more readable.
private static int intValue(String data) { return Integer.parseInt(data); }
This method is P R I V A T E 23 since, like the elds point0 and point1, it is part of the internal implementation of the class and is not part of the external programming interface of the Distance class.
Static vs. Instance Methods Both the main() and intValue() methods are STATIC METHODS24 . The static keyword tells the compiler to create a single memory space associated with the class. Each individual object instantiated has its own private state variables and methods but use the same static methods and members common to the single class object created by the compiler when the rst class object is instantiated or created. This means that the method executes in a static or non-object context - there is no implicit separate instance available when the static methods run from various objects, and the special variable this is not available. As such, static methods cannot access instance methods or instance elds (such as printDistance()) or point0) directly. The main() method can only invoke the instance method printDistance() method via an instance reference such as dist.
9.2.3 Data Types

Most declarations have a data type. Java has several categories of data types: reference types, primitive types, array types, and a special type, void.
Reference Types A reference type is a Java data type which is dened by a Java class or interface. Reference types derive this name because such values refer to an object or contain a reference to an object. The idea is similar to pointers in other languages like C.
23 24
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FK E Y W O R D S %2F P R I V A T E H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FS T A T I C %20M E T H O D S
54
Detailed Program Structure and Overview Java represents sequences of character data, or S TRING25 , with the reference type java.lang.String which is most commonly referred to as String. String literals, such as "Distance between " are constants whose type is String. This program uses three separate reference types: 1. java.lang.String (or simply String) 2. Distance 3. java.awt.Point For more information see chapter : J AVA P ROGRAMMING /C LASSES , O BJECTS AND T YPES26 .
Primitive Types In addition to object or reference types, Java supports PRIMITIVE TYPES27 . The primitive types are used to represent Boolean, character, and numeric values. This program uses only one primitive type explicitly, int, which represents 32 bit signed integer values. The program also implicitly uses double, which is the return type of the distance() method of java.awt.Point. double values are 64 bit IEEE oating point values. The main() method uses integer values 0, 1, 2, and 3 to access elements of the command line arguments. The Distance() constructors four parameters also have the type int. Also, the intValue() method has a return type of int. This means a call to that method, such as intValue(args[0]), is an expression of type int. This helps explain why the main method cannot call
new Distance(args[0], args[1], args[2], args[3]) // this is an error
Since the type of the args array element is String, and our constructors parameters must be int, such a call would result in an error because Java cannot automatically convert values of type String into int values. Javas primitive types are boolean, byte, char, short, int, long, oat and double, each of which are also Java language keywords.
Array Types Java supports ARRAYS28 , which are aggregate types which have a xed element type (which can be any Java type) and an integral size. This program uses only one array, String[] args. This indicates that args has an array type and that the element type is String. The Java VM constructs and initializes the array that is passed to the main method. See ARRAYS29 for more details on how to create arrays and access their size. The elements of arrays are accessed with integer indices. The rst element of an array is always element 0. This program accesses the rst four elements of the args array explicitly with the
25 26 27 28 29 Chapter 19 on page 107 Chapter 12 on page 75 Chapter 17 on page 99 Chapter 29 on page 145 Chapter 29 on page 145
55
indices 0, 1, 2, and 3. (This program does not perform any input validation, such as verifying that the user passed at least four arguments to the program. We will x that later.)
void is not a type in Java; it represents the absence of a type. Methods which do not return values are declared as void methods. This class denes two void methods:
public static void main(String[] args) { ... } public void printDistance() { ... }
VOID 30
9.3 Comments in Java programs

See HERE31 for more information on that important topic.
30 31
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FK E Y W O R D S %2F V O I D H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A _P R O G R A M M I N G %2FU N D E R S T A N D I N G _ A _J A V A _P R O G R A M %
2FJ A V A D O C _ A N D _ O T H E R _ C O M M E N T S
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10 Syntax
Java derives much of its syntax from the C1 programming language: basic assignment statement syntax, expressions, control ow statements and blocks, etc. will be very familiar to C programmers. Unicode : Java source code are built by Unicode characters. Tokens : Java programs consist of a sequence of different kinds of tokens. For example, there are word tokens such as class and public which are KEYWORDS2 . K EYWORDS3 : Those are special words with reserved meaning in Java. Those words can not be used by the programers to name identiers. Identiers : Other words (non keywords) are identiers. Identiers have many different uses in Java but primarily they are used as names, class names, method names, and variable names... .
LITERALS 4
: Java also has tokens to represent numbers, such as 1 and 3; these are known as LITERALS 5 .
String LITERALS6 , such as "http://en.wikibooks.org/Java_Programming", consist of zero or more characters embedded in double quotes. O PERATORS7 : And OPERATORS8 such as + and = are used to express basic computation such as addition or String concatenation or assignment. B LOCKS9 : There are also left and right braces ({ and }) which enclose BLOCKS10 . The body of a class is one such block. S TATEMENTS11 : A Block contains one or more Java STATEMENT ( S )12 , separated by semicolons. A statement is the smallest building block of Java. Separators : Some tokens are punctuation, such as periods . and commas , and semicolons ;.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /P R O G R A M M I N G %3AC H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FK E Y W O R D S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FK E Y W O R D S
Chapter 10.2 on page 59 Chapter 10.2 on page 59 Chapter 10.2 on page 59

H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FO P E R A T O R S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FO P E R A T O R S
Chapter 10.3 on page 60 Chapter 10.3 on page 60 Chapter 11 on page 63 Chapter 11 on page 63
57
Syntax
WHITESPACE 13
: You use WHITESPACE14 such as spaces, tabs, and newlines, to separate tokens. For example, whitespace is required between keywords and identiers: publicstatic is a single identier with twelve characters, not two Java keywords.
C OMMENTS15 : Comments are not part of the executing code. Comments are used to document the code.
10.1 Unicode
Most Java program text consists of ASCII16 characters, but any Unicode character can be used as part of identier names, in comments, and in character and string literals. U NICODE ESCAPE SEQUENCES 17 may also be used to express a Unicode character. For example, (which is the Greek Lowercase Letter pi) is a valid Java identier.
double
= Math.PI;
and in a string literal

String pi = string;
may also be represented in Java as the Unicode escape sequence \u03C0. Thus, the following is a valid, but not very readable, declaration and assignment:
double \u03C0 = Math.PI;
The following demonstrate the use of Unicode escape sequences in other Java syntax:
Declare Strings pi and quote which contain \u03C0 and \u0027 respectively:
String pi = string; String quote = string;
Note that a Unicode escape sequence functions just like any other character in the source code. E.g., \u0022 (double quote, ") needs to be quoted in a string just like ".
13 14 15 16 17
Chapter 10.4 on page 60 Chapter 10.4 on page 60

H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FS Y N T A X %2FC O M M E N T S H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /ASCII H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FS Y N T A X %2FU N I C O D E %20E S C A P E % 20S E Q U E N C E S
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Literals
Declare Strings doubleQuote1 and doubleQuote2 which both contain " (double quote):
String doubleQuote1 = string; String doubleQuote2 = string;
"\u0022" doesnt work since """ doesnt work.
See U NICODE ESCAPE SEQUENCES18 for full details. C ATEGORY:JAVA P ROGRAMMING19
10.2 Literals
Java Literals are syntactic representations of boolean, character, numeric, or string data. Literals provide a means of expressing specic values in your program. For example, in the following statement, an integer variable named count is declared and assigned an integer value. The literal 0 represents, natually enough, the value zero.
int count = 0;
The following method call passes a String literal string the boolean literal true and the special null value null to the method parse():
List items = parse(string, true, null);
B OOLEAN L ITERALS20 N UMERIC L ITERALS21 C HARACTER L ITERALS22 I NTEGER L ITERALS23 F LOATING P OINT L ITERALS24
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FS Y N T A X %2FU N I C O D E %20E S C A P E % 20S E Q U E N C E S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /C A T E G O R Y %3AJ A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FL I T E R A L S %2FB O O L E A N % 20 L I T E R A L S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FL I T E R A L S %2FN U M E R I C % 20L I T E R A L S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FL I T E R A L S %2FN U M E R I C % 20L I T E R A L S %2FC H A R A C T E R %20L I T E R A L S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FL I T E R A L S %2FN U M E R I C % 20L I T E R A L S %2FI N T E G E R %20L I T E R A L S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FL I T E R A L S %2FN U M E R I C % 20L I T E R A L S %2FF L O A T I N G %20P O I N T %20L I T E R A L S
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Syntax
S TRING L ITERALS25 null26
10.3 Blocks
Java has a concept called block that is enclosed between the { and } characters, called curly braces. A block executed as a single statetement, and can be used where a single statetement is accepted. After a block is executed all local variables dened inside the block is discarded, go out of scope.
{ ... // -- This is a block --}
Blocks can be nested:

{ ... { // -- This is a nested block --} }
C ATEGORY:JAVA P ROGRAMMING27 llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
10.4 Whitespaces
Whitespace in Java is used to separate the tokens in a Java source le. Whitespace is required in some places, such as between ACCESS MODIFIERS28 , TYPE NAMES29 and Identiers, and is used to improve readability elsewhere. Wherever whitespace is required in Java, one or more whitespace characters may be used. Wherever whitespace is optional in Java, zero or more whitespace characters may be used. Java whitespace consists of the space character (0x20), the tab character (hex 0x09), the form feed character (hex 0x0c), the line separators characters newline (hex 0x0a) or carriage return (hex 0x0d) characters.
25
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FL I T E R A L S %2FS T R I N G % 20L I T E R A L S 26 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FL I T E R A L S %2F N U L L 27 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /C A T E G O R Y %3AJ A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G
28 29
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Required Whitespace
Line separators are special whitespace characters in that they also terminate line comments, whereas normal whitespace does not. Other Unicode space characters, including vertical tab, are not allowed as whitespace in Java.
10.5 Required Whitespace

Below is the declaration of an abstract method taken from a Java class
public abstract Distance distanceTo(Destination dest);
Whitespace is required between public and abstract, between abstract and Distance, between Distance and distanceTo, and between Destination and dest. However, the following is not legal:
publicabstractDistance distanceTo(Destination dest);
because whitespace is required between keywords and identiers. The following is lexically valid
publicabstractDistance distanceTo(Destination dest);
but means something completely different: it declares a method which has the return type publicabstractDistance It is unlikely that this type exists, so the above would result in a semantic error.
10.6 Indentation
Java ignores all whitespace in front of a statement. As this, these two code snippets are identical for the compiler:
public static void main(String[] args) { printMessage(); } void printMessage() { System.out.println("Hello World!"); }
public static void main(String[] args) { printMessage(); } void printMessage() { System.out.println("Hello World!"); }
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Syntax
However, the rst ones style (with whitespace) is preferred, as the readability is higher. (The method body is easier to distinguish from the head, even at a higher reading speed.) C ATEGORY:JAVA P ROGRAMMING30 C ATEGORY:JAVA P ROGRAMMING31
30 31
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11 Statements
Now, that we have the Java platform on our systems and have run the rst program successfully, we are geared towards understanding how programs are actually made. As we have already discussed. A program is a set of instructions very simple tasks provided to a computer. These instructions are called statements in Java. Statements can be anything from a single line of code to a complex mathematical equation. This section helps you understand what statements are and how they work.
11.1 What exactly are statements?

Statements are a single instruction in a program a single unit of code. Consider the following line:
Listing 1.1: A simple assignment statement.
int age = 24;
This line is a simple instruction that tells the system to initialize a variable and set its value as 24. Within that simple denition, we talked about initialization of a variable and setting its value. This all might sound a bit too technical, but it will make sense as you read ahead.
11.2 Where do you nd statements

Java, in the same style as C and C++, places statements within functions (or methods). The function in turn is placed within a class declaration. If the above statement was the only one in the program, it would look similar to this:
public class MyProgram { public static void main (String[] args) { int age = 24; } }
The class declaration and function declaration will be described in the upcoming chapters.
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Statements
11.3 Variables
Christmases are usually exciting, birthdays too. And the one thing that makes them exciting are: you get presents. Think of a present youve ever gotten. A tiny (or big, if youre lucky) box with your name on it. Now think of variables as something similar. They are tiny little boxes in the computers memory that save something within themselves. This something within them is called a value.
Note: A variable is an identier to a value in the systems memory.
11.4 Data types

Take a look at the code in Listing 1.1. Here the variable we have just created is age. The word int tells us what is inside the age variable. int actually stands for integer a number. On the right to this variable is the value of the variable which is the number 24. Just like int, we can use byte, short, long, double, float, boolean, char or String. All these tell us what type of data is within a variable. These are hence called data types. We explored the statement in Listing 1.1, where the variable held an integer within in. Lets put another type of data within it. Lets say, the number 10.5. The code would look something like this:
Listing 1.2: Putting a number with decimal point inside an integer variable.
int age = 10.5;
This is actually wrong. By denition (if you have been awake throughout your mathematics lectures) youd know that integers are whole numbers: 0, 1, 2, all the way up to innity. Anything with a decimal point is not an integer, hence the statement by virtue of it is wrong. What would make it right is when you assign a certain type to the variable that would accept numbers with decimal points numbers with decimal points are called oating points.
11.5 Whole numbers and oating point numbers

The data types that one can use for whole numbers are byte, short, int and long but when it comes to oating point numbers, we use float or double. Now that we know that, we can modify the code in Listing 1.2 as:
Listing 1.3: The correct way to assign a type to oating point variables
double age = 10.5;
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Assignment statements
Why not float, you say? Well, there are several reasons why not. 10.5 can be anything a float or a double but by a certain rule, it is given a certain type. This can be explained further by looking at the table below.
Data type Values accepted Declaration
byte short int
long
float
double
Any number between -128 byte b = 123; and 127. Any number between short s = 12345; -32,768 and 32,767. Any number between int i = 1234567; -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647. long l = 1234567890L; Any number between -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 and 9,223,372,036,854,775,807. Extremely large numbers oat f = 123.4567f; beyond the scope of discussion here. double d = 1234.56789; Extremely large numbers beyond the scope of discussion here. The only difference between double and float is the addition of an f as a sufx after the float value.
The above table only list the number data types. We will look at the others as we go on. So, did you notice why we used a double in listing 1.3, and not a float? The answer is pretty simple. If wed used a float, we would have to append the number with a f as a sufx, so 10.5 should be 10.5f as in:
Listing 1.4: The correct way to dene oating point numbers of type float.
float age = 10.5f;
11.6 Assignment statements

Up until now, weve assumed the creation of variables as a single statement. In essence, we assign a value to those variables, and thats just what it is called. When you assign a value to a variable in a statement, that statement is called an assignment statement. Did you notice one more thing? The semicolon (;). Its at the end of each statement. A clear indicator that a line of code is a statement is its termination with an ending semicolon. If one was to write multiple statements, it is usually done on each separate line ending with a semicolon. Consider the example below:
Listing 1.5: Multiple assignment statements.
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Statements
int a = 10; int b = 20; int c = 30;
You do not necessarily have to use a new line to write each statement. Just like English, you can begin writing the next statement where you ended the rst one as depicted below:
Listing 1.6: Multiple assignment statement on the same line.
int a = 10; int b = 20; int c = 30;
However, the only problem with writing such code is, its very difcult to read it back. It doesnt look that intimidating at rst, but once youve got a signicant amount of code, its usually better to organize it in a way that makes sense. It would look more complex and incomprehensible written as it is in Listing 1.6. Now that we have looked into the anatomy of a simple assignment statement, we can look back at what weve achieved. We know that... A statement is a unit of code in programming. If we are assigning a variable a value, the statement is called an assignment statement. An assignment statement include three parts: a data type, variable name (also called an identier) and the value of a variable. We will look more into the nature of identiers and values in the section titled I DENTIFIERS , LITERALS AND EXPRESSIONS1 later. Now, before we more on to the next topic, you need to try and understand what the code below does.
Listing 1.7: Multiple assignment statements with expressions
int firstNumber = 10; int secondNumber = 20; int result = firstNumber + secondNumber;
The rst two statements are pretty much similar to those in Listing 1.5 but with different variable names. The third however is a bit interesting. Weve already talked of variables as being similar to gift boxes. Think of your computers memory as a shelf where you put all those boxes. Whenever you need a box (or variable), you call its identier (thats the name of the variable). So calling the variable identier firstNumber gives you the number 10, calling secondNumber would give you 20 hence when you add the two up, the answer should be 30. Thats what the value of the last variable result would be. The part of the third statement where you add the numbers, i.e., firstNumber + secondNumber is called an expression and the expression is what decides what the value is to be. If its just a plain value, nothing fancy, then its called a literal. With the information you have just attained, you can actually write a decent Java program that can sum up values. To learn more, continue reading.
1
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FI D E N T I F I E R S %2C%20 L I T E R A L S % 20 A N D %20 E X P R E S S I O N S
66
Program Control Flow


ERROR Cannot reference member var. // --- This is okay, static vars. can be used
memberStaticVar = "Value";
// --- Create an object --MyObject obj = new MyObject(); obj.memberVar = "Value"; // --- This is okay since an object is created -... return("I am a Static Method"); } }
16.9 External links

A BSTRACT METHODS , INTERACTIVE JAVA L ESSON1
H T T P :// J A V A L E S S O N S . C O M / C G I - B I N / F U N / J A V A - T U T O R I A L S - M A I N . C G I ? S E S = A O 789& C O D E = A B S&S U B=F U N
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Methods
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17 Primitive Types
1. redirect JAVA P ROGRAMMING /T YPES1
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Primitive Types
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18 Types
Data Types (or simply Types) in Java are a way of telling what certain data is. It is seen as a way of
declaring allowed values for certain data, the structure of such data and operations associated with it. Any data, be it numeric or a sentence of words, can have a different data type. For instance, just to dene different types of numbers in Java, there are about six simple types available to programmers some dene whole numbers (integers numbers) and others dene numbers with a decimal values (oating point numbers). Java also gives freedom to programmers to create complex and customizable data types. We will deal with complex data types in later chapters.
18.1 Data Types in Java

Java is considered a strongly typed programming language in that it is obligatory for all data, expressions and declarations within the code to have a certain type associated with it. This is either declared or inferred and the Java language only allows programs to run if they adhere to type constraints. As we have discussed above, you can have types that dene a number, or types that dene textual content within your program. If you present a numeric type with data that is not numeric, say textual content, then such declarations would violate Java’s type system. This gives Java the unique ability of type safety. Java checks if an expression or data is encountered with an incorrect type or none at all. It then automatically ags this occurrence as an error at compile time. Most typerelated errors are caught by the Java compiler, hence making a program more secure and safe once compiled completely and successfully. In the Java language, there are three broad categories of data types: P RIMITIVES1 O BJECT R EFERENCE T YPES2 A RRAYS3 In the following section, we will discuss these three categories in detail.
18.1.1 Primitives
Primitives are the most basic data types available within the Java language. These types serve as the building blocks of data manipulation in Java. Such types serve only one purpose containing
pure, simple values of a kind. Because these data types are dened into the Java type system by
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H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /%23P R I M I T I V E S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /%23O B J E C T %20R E F E R E N C E %20T Y P E S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /%23A R R A Y S
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Types
default, they come with a number of operations predened. You can not dene a new operation for such primitive types. In the Java type system, there are three further categories of primitives: N UMERIC P RIMITIVES4 <p>These primitive data types hold only numeric data. Operations associated with such data types are those of simple arithmetic (addition, subtration, etc.) or of comparions (is greater than, is equal to, etc.)</p> T EXTUAL P RIMITIVES5 <p>These primitive data types hold characters (which can be alphabets or even numbers), but unlike numbers, they do not have operations that serve arithmetic purposes. Rather, operations associated with such types are those of textual manipulation (comparing two words, joining characters to make words, etc.) B OOLEAN AND N ULL P RIMITIVES6
18.1.2 Object Reference Types 18.1.3 Arrays
18.2 About Java Types

some type errors can still occur at runtime because Java supports a CAST7 operation which is a way of changing the type of one expression to another. However, Java performs run time type checking when doing such casts, so an incorrect type cast will cause a runtime exception rather than succeeding silently and allowing data corruption. Java is also known as a hybrid language. While supporting object oriented (OO) programming, Java is not a pure OO language like S MALLTALK8 or RUBY9 . Instead, Java offers both object types and PRIMITIVE TYPES10 . Primitive types are used for boolean, character, and numeric values and operations. This allows relatively good performance when manipulating numeric data, at the expense of exibility. For example, you cannot subclass the primitive types and add new operations to them.
18.3 Examples of Types

Below are two examples of Java types and a brief description of the allowed values and operations for these types. Additional details on each are available in other modules.
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /%2FN U M E R I C %20P R I M I T I V E S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /%2FT E X T U A L %20P R I M I T I V E S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /%2FO T H E R %20P R I M I T I V E S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /%2FJ A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FC A S T S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /P R O G R A M M I N G %3AS M A L L T A L K H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /R U B Y %20P R O G R A M M I N G
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Examples of Types
18.3.1 Example: int

The PRIMITIVE TYPE11 int represents a signed 32 bit integer value. The allowed data values for int are the integers between -2147483648 to 2147483647 inclusive. The set of operations that may be performed on int values includes integer arithmetic such as +, -, *, /, %, comparison operations (==, !=, <, >, <=, >=), assignments (=, ++, --, +=, -=), bit-wise operations such as logical and, logical or, logical xor, negation (&, |, , ), bit shift operations (<<, >>, >>>), CONVERSIONS12 to other numeric types and PROMOTION13 to other integer types. For example, to declare a private integer instance eld named length, one would use the declaration
private int length;
18.3.2 Example: String

You use class and interface denition in Java to dene new types. Class and interface types are associated with object references also sometime refered to as Reference types. An object reference has two main attributes: Its type associated with a class or an interface A java object it references, that is created by instantiating a class The String class is one such example. String values are a sequence of 0 or more Unicode characters. The null reference is another valid value for a String expression. The operations on a String reference variable are those available for all reference types, such as comparison operations ==, != and assignment =. The allowed operations on String object, however are the set of methods in the java.lang.String class, which includes length(), toString(), toLowerCase(), toUpperCase(), compareTo(String anotherString) and more... . In addition, String objects also inherit the set of operations from the base class that String extends from, which is java.lang.Object. These operations include methods such as equals(), hashCode(), wait(), notifyAll(), and getClass().
private String name = "Marry Brown";
In the above example the name object references attributes are: Type is : String The referenced object is also : String
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Chapter 17 on page 99 Chapter 17 on page 99 Chapter 17 on page 99
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Types
Both the java.lang.String class methods and java.lang.Object class methods are available for the object reference name.
private Object name = "Marry Brown";
In the above example the name object references attributes are: Type is : Object The referenced object is : String Only the java.lang.Object class methods are available for the object reference name.
18.4 Array Types

Arrays in Java are represented as a built-in Array object. As with object types, they behave as a reference but have a few differences allowing them to allow easy access to sub elements. When one declares an array, the data type is changed to include square brackets. (While you can instead place these square brackets next to the variable name, this is not recommended.) To create an array, you will need to use the new operator to have it create the Array with the specied number of elements:
/* Declares an array named data, and has it assigned to an array with 25 elements. */ private int[] data = new int[25];
Arrays are described in more detail in the Arrays section.
18.5 Primitive Data Types

The Java primitive data types contain pure values, no operations. It is basically data types similar to what other non-object-oriented languages have. There are arrays of primitive types in Java; but because they are not objects, primitive values can not be put in a collection. For this reason object wrappers are dened in JDK java.lang.* package for all the primitive types.
oat double Other boolean void
32 64
oa 65f dou 65.
1 --
boo true --
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Data Conversion (Casting)
The types short, int, long, oat, and double are usually used in arithmetic operations; byte and char can also be used, but less commonly. The character type char is used for text processing. The type byte is commonly used in binary le input output operations.
String objects representing literal character strings in Java, in the java.lang.* package.
java.lang.String is not a primitive type, but instead is a special class built into the Java language. For further info, see String.
18.6 Data Conversion (Casting)

Data conversion (casting) can happen between two primitive types. There are two kinds: Implicit : casting operation is not required; the magnitude of the numeric value is always preserved. However, precision may be lost when converting from integer to oating point types Explicit : casting operation required; the magnitude of the numeric value may not be preserved Example for implicit casting:
int i = 65; long l = i; // --- int is converted to long, casting is not needed
Example for explicit casting:

long l = 656666L; int i = (int) l; // --- long is converted to int, casting is needed
The following table shows the conversions between primitive types, it shows the casting operation for explicit conversions:
from byte to byte to char to short to int to long to oat to double from char from short from int from long from oat from double from boolean
(byte) (short)
(byte) (char) -
(byte) (char) (short) -
(byte) (char) (short) (int) -
(byte) (char) (short) (int) (long) -
(byte) (char) (short) (int) (long) (oat) -
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
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from byte to N/A boolean
from char
from short
from int
from long
from oat
from double
from boolean
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
18.7 Autoboxing/unboxing
Autoboxing/unboxing : Autoboxing and unboxing, language features since Java 1.5, make the programmers life much easier when it comes to working with the primitive wrapper types. Consider this code fragment:
int age = 23;
Integer ageObject = new Integer(age);
Primitive wrapper objects were Javas way of allowing one to treat primitive data types as though they were objects. Consequently, one was expected to wrap ones primitive data type with the corresponding primitive wrapper object, as shown above. Autoboxing : Since Java 1.5, one may write as below and the compiler will automatically create the wrap object. The extra step of wrapping the primitive is no longer required. It has been automatically boxed up on your behalf.
Points to ponder:
Keep in mind that the compiler still creates the missing wrapper code, so one doesnt really gain anything performance-wise. Consider this feature a programmer convenience, not a performance booster.
int age = 23;
Integer ageObject = age;
Unboxing : Uses the same process in reverse. Study the following code for a moment. The if statement requires a boolean primitive value, yet it was given a Boolean wrapper object. No problem! Java 1.5 will automatically unbox this.
Boolean canMove = new Boolean(true); if ( canMove ) { System.out.println( "This code is legal in Java 1.5" ); }
14
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19 java.lang.String
{{#ifeq: none Types Java Pro../tmp/9.png gramming Figure String 9 T YPES1 }} {{#ifeq: none Classes, Objects and Types C LASSES , OBJECTS AND
T YPES2
Figure 10 }}
19.1 java.lang.String
String is a special class built into the Java language dened in the java.lang package.
The String class represents character strings. String literals in Java programs, such as "abc", are implemented as instances of this class. For example:
String str = "This is string literal";
On the right hand side a String object is created represented by the string literal. Its object reference is assigned to the str variable. Strings are immutable; that is, they cannot be modied once created. Whenever it looks as if a String object was modied, a new String was actually created and the old one was thrown away. The Java language provides special support for the string concatenation operator ( + ), and for conversion of other objects to strings. For example:
String str = "First part" + " second part"; // --- Is the same as: String str = "First part second part";
Integers will also be converted to String after the ( + ) operator:

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java.lang.String
String str = "Age=" + 25;
Each Java object has the String toString() inherited from the Object class. This method provides a way to convert objects into Strings. Most classes override the default behavior to provide more specic (and more useful) data in the returned String. The String class provides a nice set of methods for string manipulation. Since String objects are immutable, all methods return a new String object. For example:
name = name.trim();
The trim() method returns a copy of the string with leading and trailing whitespace removed. Note that the following would do nothing useful:
name.trim(); // wrong!
This would create a new trimmed string and then throw it away. Study the String class and its methods carefully. Strings are ubiquitous in Java; it will serve you well to know how to manipulate them skillfully.
19.2 Using StringBuffer/StringBuilder to concatenate strings

Remember that String objects are immutable objects. Once a String is created, it can not be modied, takes up memory until garbage collected. Be careful of writing a method like this :
public String convertToString(Collection<String> coll) { String str = ""; for(String oneElem : coll) // loops through every element in coll { str = str + oneElem + " "; } return str;
On the ( + ) operation a new String object is created at each iteration. Suppose coll contains the elements ["Foo", "Bar", "Bam", "Baz"]. The method creates ve Strings ("", "Foo ", "Foo Bar ", "Foo Bar Bam ", and "Foo Bar Bam Baz") even though only last one is actually useful.
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Instead use S TRING B UFFER3 , as shown below, where only one S TRING B UILDER4 object is created: To avoid unnecessary memory use like this, use the S TRING B UFFER5 or S TRING B UILDER6 class. They provide similar functionality to Strings, but store their data in a mutable way. Also because object creation is time consuming, using StringBuffer or StringBuilder produces much faster code.
public String convertToString(Collection<String> coll) { StringBuilder buf = new StringBuilder(); for(String oneElem : coll) // loops through every element in coll { buf.append(oneElem); buf.append(" "); } return buf.toString();
StringBuilder was introduced in Java 5. Unlike StringBuffer, StringBuilder isnt thread safe, so you cant use it in more than one thread (see the chapter on C ONCURRENCY7 ). However, because it doesnt have to worry about synchronization, StringBuilders are faster.
19.3 Comparing Strings

Comparing strings is not as easy as it may rst seem. We cannot just use a simple equality statement such as:
if(myString == "Hello World!") { //Cant Use this.
System.out.println("Match Found");
To test for equality, use the equals(Object) method inherited by every class and dened by String to return true if and only if the object passed in is a String containing the exact same data.
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H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FAPI%2F J A V A . L A N G . ST R I N GBU F F E R H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FAPI%2F J A V A . L A N G . ST R I N GBU I L D E R H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FAPI%2F J A V A . L A N G . ST R I N GBU F F E R H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FAPI%2F J A V A . L A N G . ST R I N GBU I L D E R H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FC O N C U R R E N T P R O G R A M M I N G
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java.lang.String
String greeting = "Hello World!"; if(greeting.equals("Hello World!")) { //true // ...
} if(greeting.equals("hello world!")) { //false // ...
To order String objects, use the compareTo() method, which can be accessed wherever we use a String datatype. Lets take a look at an example:
String myString = "Hello World!"; //... if(myString.compareTo("Hello World!") == 0 ) { System.out.println("Match Found");
This snippet of code is comparing the String variable myString to "Hello World". The compareTo method returns a negative, zero, or positive number if the parameter is less than, equal to, or greater than the object on which it is called. If myString was to be different, even in the slightest manner we will get a value above or below 0 depending on the exact difference. The result is negative if this String object lexicographically precedes the argument string. The result is a positive integer if this String object lexicographically follows the argument string. Take a look at the JAVA API8 for more details.
19.4 Splitting a String

Sometimes it is useful to split a string into separate strings, based on a regular expression. (For more information on regular expressions, see R EGEX9 .) The String class has a split() method, since Java 1.4, that will return a String array. See the following example:
8 9
H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / J 2 S E /1.4.2/ D O C S / A P I / J A V A / L A N G /S T R I N G . H T M L # C O M P A R E T O ( J A V A . L A N G .S T R I N G ) H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %2FR E G E X
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Creating substrings
String person = "Brown, John:100 Yonge Street, Toronto:(416)777-9999"; ... String[] personData = person.split( ":" ); ... String name = personData[0]; String address = personData[1]; String phone = personData[2];
An other useful application could be to split the String text based on the new line character, so you could process the text line by line.
19.5 Creating substrings

It may also be sometimes useful to create substrings, or strings using the order of letters from an existing string. This can be done in two methods. The rst method involves creating a substring out of the characters of a string from a given index to the end. For example:
String str = "coffee"; String substr = str.substring(3);
In this example, substr would return "fee". As previously discussed, the index of the rst character in a string is 0. By counting from there, it is apparent that the character in index 3 is the second "f" in "coffee". This is known as the beginIndex. All characters from the beginIndex until the end of the string will be copied into the new substring. The second method involves a user-dened beginIndex and endIndex. For example:
String str = "supporting"; String substr = str.substring(3,7);
The string returned by substr would be "port". Please note that the endIndex is not inclusive. This means that the last character will be of the index endIndex-1. Therefore, in this example, every character from index 3 to index 6, inclusive, was copied into the substring.
Note: "Substring" is considered to be one word. This is why the method name does not seem to
follow the common syntax of Java. It is easy to mistake the method substr() for subStr() (which does not exist and would return with a syntax error on compilation). Just remember that this style only applies to methods or other elements that are made up of more than one word.
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java.lang.String
19.6 Modifying String cases

The String Class also allows for the modication of cases. The two methods that make this possible are toLowerCase() and toUpperCase(). These methods are useful, for example, in the typical programming classroom assignment of evaluating whether or not a string is a palindrome.
String a = "WIKIBOOKS"; String b = "wikipedia";
In this example, a call to a.toLowerCase() would return a result of "wikibooks", and b.toUpperCase() would return "WIKIPEDIA".
19.7 See also

JAVA API: JAVA . LANG .S TRING10 JAVA API: JAVA . LANG .S TRING B UFFER11 JAVA API: JAVA . LANG .S TRING B UILDER12 JAVA P ROGRAMMING /API/ JAVA . LANG .S TRING B UFFER13 JAVA P ROGRAMMING /API/ JAVA . LANG .S TRING B UILDER14
10 11 12 13 14
H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / J 2 S E /1.5.0/ D O C S / A P I / J A V A / L A N G /S T R I N G . H T M L H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / J A V A S E /6/ D O C S / A P I / J A V A / L A N G /S T R I N G B U F F E R . H T M L H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / J A V A S E /6/ D O C S / A P I / J A V A / L A N G /S T R I N G B U I L D E R . H T M L H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FAPI%2F J A V A . L A N G .
ST R I N GBU F F E R H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FAPI%2F J A V A . L A N G . ST R I N GBU I L D E R
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20 Arrays
20.1 Intro to Arrays
An array is similar to a table of data, keyed by number. In Java an array is an object like all other objects. Look at the following program: UNKNOWN TEMPLATE "Java_Code_File" Copy the code and compile it. The program will ask you to enter some names then reprints the names in order. It demonstrates three major aspects of arrays: how to dene an array, how to set data, and how to access it. The code String[] names = new String[numNames]; tells Java to create an array of size numNames that will store Strings. To set data, use names[x] = data where x is the index to access. Note that all Java arrays start at 0 and go to (array size - 1). Thus, if you dimension an array to size 10, the highest index is 9.
20.2 Array Fundamentals

To create an array, use the syntax DataType[] variable = new DataType[ArraySize]. Alternatively, if you know the data beforehand, you can write DataType[] variable = {item 1, item
2,...item n}
All elements of the array will be automatically initialized with the default value for that datatype. This is false for booleans, 0 for all numeric primitive types, and null for all reference types. So for example, the previous note created an array of DataType references, all of which are initialized to null. To access an item, use the syntax variable[i] where i is the index To set an item, use the syntax variable[i] = data To nd the length of an array, use the syntax variable.length
20.3 Two-Dimensional Arrays

A two dimensional array is represented by an array of an array. Because an array is also an object, like any other object having the Object as the super class, it can be used to create an array where the element of the array is also an array. In this way an array with any number of dimensions can be created. Here are examples of two dimensional arrays with initializer blocks:
String [][] twoDimArray = { {"00", "01", "02", "03", "04"},
{"10", "11", "12", "13", "14"}, {"20", "21", "22", "23", "23"} };
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Arrays
...
int [][] twoDimIntArray =
{ {00, 01, 02, 03, 04}, {10, 11, 12, 13, 14}, {20, 21, 22, 23, 24} };
Note that the above "twoDimArray" is equivalent to the following more verbose code:
String [][] twoDimArray = new String[3][];
for (int i = 0; i < twoDimArray.length; i++) { twoDimArray[i] = new String[5]; for (int j = 0; j < twoDimArray[i].length; j++) twoDimArray[i][j] = "" + i + j; }
In the above example we dened an array which has three elements, each element contains an array having 5 elements. We could create the array having the 5 elements rst and use that one in the initialize block.
String [] oneDimArray = {"00", "01", "02", "03", "04"}; String [][] twoDimArray = { oneDimArray ,
{"10", "11", "12", "13", "14"}, {"20", "21", "22", "23", "24"} };
Since they are arrays of array references, these multi-dimensional arrays can be "jagged" (i.e. subarrays can have different lenghts), or the subarray reference can even be null. Consider
String [][] weirdTwoDimArray = { {"10", "11", "12"},
null, {"20", "21", "22", "23", "24"} };
20.4 Multidimensional Array

Going further any number of dimensional array can be dened.
<elementType>[][]...[] <arrayName> or <elementType><arrayName>[][]...[]
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21 Data and Variables

A variable in Java can store two kinds of variables: JAVA PRIMITIVE TYPE VALUES1 a reference to a JAVA OBJECT2 Javas primitive types are integers (whole numbers, declared as byte, short, int, or long; only int need be of interest to a beginner) oating-point numbers (decimal numbers, declared as oat or double; only oat need be of interest at rst) characters (declared as char, representing one character like A or ,) boolean (holding only true or false as values) In addition, the Java language has special features for its String class, and strings can be treated very much like primitives for many purposes. As in most languages, a variable is declared to be a particular type of data; the syntax for a declaration is:
variabletype variablename;
To store a value in a variable, a program statement like

variablename = data;
And can reference the variable (and use the data stored in it) by its name. For example, to create an int primitive type value, named year that stores 2007;
year = 2007;
To access the data in year, use the variable in place of the number.
System.out.println(year);
Produces
1 2
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Data and Variables
2007
21.1 Strong Typing

Variables in Java are strongly typed, which means that the compiler checks the type of a variable matches the type of data stored in that variable. If you declare a variable to hold a String, for instance, you cannot assign an integer value to that variable. Some languages (such as C) dene an interpretation of such a statement and use that interpretation without any warning; others (such as PL/I) dene a conversion for almost all such statements and perform the conversion to complete the assignment. Strong typing is intended to prevent mistakes made by unwittingly assigning the wrong kind of value to a variable, and catching those mistakes when the program is compiled rather than waiting to nd it when the program is running.
21.2 Case Conventions

Java is case-sensitive. A method called mymethod is completely separate from a method called myMethod. Be careful! By convention, most identiers that includes more than one word uses CAMEL CASE3 . Classes begin with a capital letter; methods and variables do not. (Constructors have to start with a capital, because they must have the same name as the class.) Package names use lowercase, and do not use camel case. Thus:
package org.wikibooks.samplecode; class CaseConventions { int variable; int multipleWordVariable;
CaseConventions(String id) { }
void method() {
}
void longMethodName() {
} }
21.3 Scope
Java uses block scope, which means that a variable is "un-dened" (and becomes useless) at the end of the block in which it is dened. A block is any section of code within curly braces.
H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /C A M E L C A S E
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Scope
Common blocks include class denitions, methods and constructors, if/else blocks, and for, while, and do-while loops.
class BlockScope { int classScope; // valid in all of class BlockScope
BlockScope(int param) { // param is valid only in this constructor int localVariable = 0; // valid only in this constructor }
void someMethod() { int local = 42; // valid only in this method if(local > 0) { boolean positive = true; // valid only within the if block } else {
// positive is not defined here! } } }
There are three basic kinds of scope for variables in Java: local variable, declared within a method in a class, valid for (and occupying storage only for) the time that method is executing. Every time the method is called, a new copy of the variable is used. instance variable, declared within a class but outside any method. It is valid for and occupies storage for as long as the corresponding object is in memory; a program can instantiate multiple objects of the class, and each one gets its own copy of all instance variables. This is the basic data structure rule of Object-Oriented programming; classes are dened to hold data specic to a "class of objects" in a given system, and each instance holds its own data. static variable, declared within a class as static, outside any method. There is only one copy of such a variable no matter how many objects are instantiated from that class. C ATEGORY:JAVA P ROGRAMMING4
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22 Generics
Generics were added to the Java language syntax in version 1.5. This means that code using Generics will not compile with Java 1.4 and less. Java was long criticized for the need to explicitly type-cast an element when it was taken out of a "container/collection" class. There was no way to enforce that a "collection" class contains only one type of object (e.g., to forbid at compile time that an Integer object is added to a Collection that should only contain Strings). This is now possible since Java 1.5. In the rst couple of years of Java evolution, Java did not have a real competitor. This has changed by the appearance of Microsoft C#. With Generics Java is better suited to compete against C#. Similar constructs to Java Generics exist in other languages, see G ENERIC PROGRAMMING1 for more information.
22.1 What are Generics?

Generics are so called because this language feature allows methods to be written generically, with no foreknowledge of the type on which they will eventually be called upon to carry out their behaviors. A better name might have been type parameter argument. Because, it is basically that, to pass a Type as a parameter to a class at creation time. When an object is created, parameters can be passed to the created object, through the constructor. Now with Generics, we can also pass in Types. The type-place-holders will be replaced with the specied type, before the object is created. Type parameter arguments can be set: for a class : When an object is created from that class the type-parameter-argument will be replaced with the actual Type.
public class Person<T>
{ private Person<T> person; ... } ... // --- Create an Employee person --Person<Employee> emplPerson = new Person<Employee>(); ... // --- Create a Customer person --Person<Customer> custPerson = new Person<Customer>();
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for a method : Just like class declarations, method declarations can be generic--that is, parameterized by one or more type parameters.
public static <T> void assign( Person<T> person, T obj )
{ person.setPerson( obj ); }
use of generics is optional : For backwards compatibility with pre-Generics code, it is okay to use generic classes without the generics type specication thing (<T>). In such a case, when you retrieve an object reference from a generic object, you will have to manually typecast it from type Object to the correct type. The compiler should also warn about unsafe operations.
22.2 Introduction
Java is a strongly typed language. Thats one of the reasons why it is so easy to use. Many potential problems are caught by the compiler. One area where Java was criticized was regarding the container objects. Container objects are objects that contain other objects. Before Generics were introduced there was no way to ensure that a container object contains only one type of objects. When an object was added to a container, it was automatically cast to Java Object. When it was taken out an explicit cast was needed. Normally an explicit cast is checked by the compiler.
String st = "This is a String";
... Integer integer = (Integer) st;
// --- Compilation Error --
But in the case of container classes, the compiler was not able to catch an invalid type casting.
1 Collection collString = new ArrayList(); 2 collString.add( "This is a String" ); ... 3 Integer integer = (Integer) collString.get(0);
// --- No Compilation Error; RunTime CastException
Just looking at line 3, we do not know what type of objects collString contains. If that contains Integers then the code is ne. The below code using Generic:
Collection<String> collString = new ArrayList<String>(); collString.add( "This is a String" ); ... Integer integer = (Integer) collString.get(0); // --- Compilation Error
collString is a container object, that can contain only String objects, nothing else, so when we get
out an element it can be casted only to class that normally a String can be casted. With Generics, Java strict type checking can be extended to container objects. Using Generics with container classes, gives an impression that a new container type is created, with each different type
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Note for C++ programmers
parameter. Before Generics:

Collection collCustomer = new ArrayList(); collCustomer.add( new Customer() ); ... Collection collObject = collCustomer; // --- No problem, both collObject and collCustomer have the same type
With generics:
Collection<Customer> collCustomer = new ArrayList<Customer>(); collCustomer.add( new Customer() ); ... Collection<Object> collObject = collCustomer; // --- Compilation Error
Both collObject and collCustomer have the same type, BUT it is against the Generic rule, that is collCustomer can contain only Customer objects, and collObject can contain only Object object. So there is an additional check to the normal type checking, the type of the parameter type has to be matched too.
22.3 Note for C++ programmers

Java Generics are similar to C++ Templates in that both were added for the same reason. The syntax of Java Generic and C++ Template are also similar. There are some differences however. The C++ template can be seen as a kind of macro, that generates code before compilation. The generated code depends on how the Template class is referenced. The amount of code generated depends on how many different types of classes are created from the Template. C++ Templates do not have any run-time mechanisms. The compiler creates normal code to substitute the template, similar to any hand-written code. In contrast, Java Generics are built into the language. The same Class object handles all the Generic type variations. No additional code is generated, no matter how many Generic objects are created with different type parameters. For example.
Collection<String> collString = new ArrayList<String>();
Collection<Integer> collInteger = new ArrayList<Integer>();
There is only one Class object created. In fact, at runtime, both these objects appear as the same type (both ArrayLists). The generics type information is erased during compilation (type erasure). This means, for example, that if you had function that takes Collection<T> as an argument, and that collection happened to be empty, your function would have no way of instantiating another T object, because it doesnt know what T was. The Class class itself is generic since Java 1.5.
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public nal class Class<T> extends Object implements Serializable, GenericDeclaration, Type,
AnnotatedElement { ... }
The T type here represents the type that is handed to the Class object. The T type will be substituted with the class being loaded.
22.4 Class<T>
Since Java 1.5, the class java.lang.Class is generic. It is an interesting example of using genericness for something other than a container class. For example, the type of String.class is Class<String>, and the type of Serializable.class is Class<Serializable>. This can be used to improve the type safety of your reection code. In particular, since the newInstance() method in Class now returns a T, you can get more precise types when creating objects reectively. Now we can use the newInstance() method to return a new object with exact type, without casting. :
Customer cust = Utility.createAnyObject(Customer.class); ... public static <T> T createAnyObject(Class<T> cls) { T ret = null;
try
// - No casting
{ ret = cls.newInstance(); }
catch (Exception e)
{ // --- Exception Handling }

return ret;
And the above code without Generics:

Customer cust = (Customer) Utility.createAnyObject(Customer.class); ... public static Object createAnyObject(Class cls) { Object ret = null;
try
// - Casting is needed
{ ret = cls.newInstance(); }
catch (Exception e)
{ // --- Exception Handling }
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return ret;
Get exact type when getting JavaBean property, using reection : See the following code where the method will return the exact type of the Java Bean property, based on how it will be called.
// --- Using reflection, get a Java Bean property by its name --public static <T> T getProperty(Object bean, String propertyName) { if (bean == null || propertyName == null || propertyName.length() == 0) { return null; } // --- Based on the property name build the getter method name --String methodName = "get" + propertyName.substring(0,1).toUpperCase() + propertyName.substring(1); T property = null;
try
{ java.lang.Class c = bean.getClass(); java.lang.reflect.Method m = c.getMethod(methodName, null); property = (T) m.invoke(bean, null); }

catch (Exception e)
{ // --- Handle exception -}

return property;
22.5 Variable Argument

Using Generics, it is very easy to dene a method with a variable number of arguments. Before generics, this was not possible in Javaif a likewise feature was needed, this was mostly done by passing an array. The only requirement for using a variable number of arguments using Generics is that the arguments in the list must have the same type. The following code illustrates a method that can be called with a variable number arguments:
/** * Method using variable-length argument list * @param <T> * @param args */ public static <T> List<T> makeAList(T... args) { List<T> argList = new ArrayList<T>(); for (int i = 0; i < args.length; i++) { argList.add(args[i]); }
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return argList;
The above method can be called with a variable number of arguments, for example:
List<String> list1 = makeAList("One", "Two", "Three"); List<String> list2 = makeAList("One", "Two", "Three", "Four");
In the above example calls, the arguments must be of type String. If we write <? Object> instead of T, then we can pass any kind of objects, regardles of their type:
List<? extends Object> list3 = makeAList("One", 10, new StringBuffer(), new LinkedList());
extends
Note: the number 10 in the above code will be converted (autoboxed) to Integer. See also:
java.util.Arrays.asList(T... a)
22.6 Wildcard Types

As we have seen above, generics give the impression that a new container type is created with each different type parameter. We have also seen that in addition to the normal type checking, the type parameter has to match as well when we assign generics variables. In some cases this is too restrictive. What if we would like to relax this additional checking? What if we would like to dene a collection variable that can hold any generic collection, regardless of the parameter type it holds? Wildcard : The wildcard type is represented by the character <?>, and pronounced Unknown, or Any-Type. This Unknown type matches anything, if it is used only by itself. Any-Type can be express also by <? extends Object>. Any-Type includes Interfaces, not only Classes. So now we can dene a collection whose element type matches anything. See below:
Collection<?> collUnknown;
Note that we can not add anything to this collection. We can only take out elements of type Object from it. So what is the use of this variable if we can not add anything to the collection it represents? The use of this new construct will be clear when you want to create a generic method that takes any collection.
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public static void printElements( Collection<?> anycoll )
{ Iterator<?> iter = coll.iterator(); while ( iter.hasNext() ) { System.out.print( iter.next() ); } }
Wildcard for a specic type of classes :

"<? extends ClassName>" species a restriction on the types of classes that may used.
For example, to create a collection that may only contain "Serializable" objects, specify:
Collection<? extends Serializable> serColl = new ArrayList<String>();
The above code is valid because, the String class is serializable. Use of a class that is not serializable would cause a compilation error. The following collection can only contain objects that extend the class Animal.
class Dog extends Animal
{ ... } ... // --- Create "Animal Collection" variable --Collection<? extends Animal> animalColl = new ArrayList<Dog>();
"<? super ClassName>" species a restriction on the types of classes that may be used.
For example, to declare a Comparator that can compare Dogs, you use
Comparator<? super Dog> myComparator;
Now suppose you dene a comparator that can compare Animals:

class AnimalComparator implements Comparator<Animal>
{ int compare(Animal a, Animal b) { //... } }
Since Dogs are Animals, you can use this comparator to compare Dogs also. Comparators for any superclass of Dog can also compare Dog; but comparators for any strict subclass cannot.
Comparator<Animal> myAnimalComparator = new AnimalComparator(); static int compareTwoDogs(Comparator<? super Dog> comp, Dog dog1, Dog
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dog2) { return comp.compare(dog1, dog2); }
The above code is valid because, the Animal class is a supertype of the Dog class. Use of a class that is not a supertype would cause a compilation error. C ATEGORY:JAVA P ROGRAMMING2
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23 Dening Classes
23.1 Fundamentals
Every class in Java can be composed of the following elements elds - Fields are variables that hold data specic to each object. For example, an employee might have an ID number. (They are also called member variables.) There is one eld for each object of a class. member methods - Member methods perform operations on an object. For example, an employee might have a method to issue his paycheck or to access his name. static elds - Static elds are common to any object of the same class. For example, a static eld within the Employee class could keep track of the last ID number issued. Only one static eld exists for one class. static methods - Static methods are methods that do not affect a specic object. other classes - Sometimes it is useful to contain a class within another one if it is useless outside of the class or should not be accessed outside the class. Constructors - A special method that generates a new object. Parameterized types - Since 1.5, parameterized types can be assigned to a class during denition. The parameterized types will be substituted with the types specied at the classs instantiation. It is done by the compiler. It is similar to the C language macro #dene statement, where a preprocessor evaluates the macros.
public class Employee { that // This defines the Employee class. // The public modifier indicates
// it can be accessed by any other class private static int nextID; one copy of this will exist, are created. // Define a static field. Only // no matter how many Employees
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private int myID; stored private String myName; modifier indicates that class can access it. public Employee(String name) pass a name to the constructor { created Employee object. myName = name; myID = nextID; the object nextID++; } public String getName() returns the { return myName; private field myName. } public int getID() { return myID; } public static int getNextID() returns the next ID { another Employee is created. return nextID; }
// Define fields that will be // for each Employee. The private // only code inside the Employee
// This is a constructor. You can // and it will give you a newly
// Automatically assign an ID to // Increment the ID counter
// This is a member method that // Employee objects name. // Note how it can access the
// This is another member method.
// This is a static method that // that will be assigned if
The following Java code

public class EmployeeList { public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println(Employee.getNextID()); Employee a = new Employee("John Doe"); Employee b = new Employee("Jane Smith"); Employee c = new Employee("Sally Brown"); System.out.println(Employee.getNextID()); System.out.println(a.getID() + " : " + a.getName()); System.out.println(b.getID() + " : " + b.getName()); System.out.println(c.getID() + " : " + c.getName()); }
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would produce this output:

0 3 0 : John Doe 1 : Jane Smith 2 : Sally Brown
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24 Creating Objects
24.1 Introduction
Before a Java object can be created the class byte code must be loaded from the le system (with .class extension) to memory. This process of locating the byte code for a given class name and converting that code into a Java C LASS1 class instance is known as class loading. There is one C LASS2 created for each type of Java class. All objects in java programs are created on heap memory. An object is created based on its class. You can consider a class as a blueprint, template, or a description how to create an object. When an object is created, memory is allocated to hold the object properties. An object reference pointing to that memory location is also created. To use the object in the future, that object reference has to be stored as a local variable or as an object member variable. The Java Virtual Machine (JVM), keeps track of the usage of object references. If there are no more reference to the object, the object can not be used any more and becomes garbage. After a while the heap memory will be full of unused objects. The JVM collects those garbage objects and frees the memory they allocated, so the memory can be reused again when a new object is created. See below a simple example:
{ // --- Create an object --MyObject obj = new MyObject(); // --- Use the object --obj.printMyValues(); }
The obj contains the object reference pointing to an object created from the MyObject class. The obj object reference is in scope inside the { }. After the } the object becomes garbage. Object references can be passed in to methods, object references can be returned from methods.
24.2 Creating object with the new keyword

99% of new objects are created using the new keyword.
1 2
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{ // --- Create an MyObject for the first time the application started -MyObject obj = new MyObject(); }
When an object from the MyObject class is created for the rst time. The JVM searches the le system for the denition of the class, that is the Java byte code. The le has the extention of *.class. The CLASSPATH environment variable contains locations where Java classes are stored. The JVM is looking for the MyObject.class le. Depending on which package the class belongs to, the package name will be translated to a directory path. When the MyObject.class le is found, the JVMs class loader loads the class in memory, and creates a Class object. The JVM stores the code in memory, allocates memory for the static variables, and executes any static initialize block. Memory is not allocated for the object member variables at this point, memory will be allocated for them when an instance of the class, an object, is created. There is no limit on how many objects from the same class can be created. Code and static variables are stored only once, no matter how many objects are created. Memory is allocated for the object member variables when the object is created. Thus, the size of an object is determined not by its codes size but by the memory it needs for its member variables to be stored.
24.3 Creating object by cloning an object

Cloning is not automatically available to classes. There is some help though, as all Java objects inherit the protected Object clone() method. This base method would allocate the memory and do the bit by bit copying of the objects states. You may ask why we need this clone method. Couldnt I create a constructor and just passing in the same object, and do the copying variable by variable? Lets see:
{
private int memberVar;
... MyObject( MyObject obj ) { this.memberVar = obj.memberVar; ... } ... }
You might think that accessing the private memberVar variable of obj would fail but as this is in the same class this code is legal. The clone() method copies the whole objects memory in one operation. This is much faster than using the new keyword. Object creation with the new keyword is expensive, so if you need to create lots of objects with the same type, performance will be better if you create one object and clone new ones from it. See below a factory method that will return a new object using cloning.
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HashTable _cacheTemplate = new HashTable; ... /** Clone Customer object for performance reason */ public Customer createCustomerObject() { // --- See if a template object exists in our cache --Customer template = _cacheTemplate.get( "Customer" ); if ( template == null ) { // --- Create template --template = new Customer(); _cacheTemplate.put( "Customer", template ); } return template.clone(); }
Now, lets see how to make the Customer object cloneable. First the Customer class needs to implement the Cloneable Interface. Override and make the clone() method public, as that is protected in the Object class. Call the super.clone()method at the beginning of your clone method. Override the clone() method in all the subclasses of Customer.
public class Customer implements Cloneable
{ ...
public Object clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException
{ Object obj = super.clone(); return obj; } }
In the above example we used cloning for speed up object creation. An other use of cloning could be to take a snapshot of an object that can change in time. Lets say we want to store Customer objects in a collection, but we want to disassociate them from the live objects . So before adding the object, we clone them, so if the original object changes from that point forward, the added object wont. Also lets say that the Customer object has a reference to an Activity object that contains the customer activities. Now we are facing a problem, it is not enough to clone the Customer object, we also need to clone the referenced objects. The solution: Make the Activity class also cloneable Make sure that if the Activity class has other changeable object references, those has to be cloned as well, as seen below Change the Customer class clone() method as follows:
public class Customer implements Cloneable
{ Activity _activity; ... public Customer clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException { Customer clonedCustomer = (Customer) super.clone(); // -- Clone the object referenced objects --if ( _activity != null )
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{ clonedCustomer.setActivity( (Activity) _activity.clone() ); } return clonedCustomer; } }
Note that only mutable objects needs to be cloned. References to unchangeable objects such as String be used in the cloned object without worry.
24.4 Creating object receiving from a remote source

When an object is sent through a network, the object needs to be recreated at the receiving host. Object Serialization : The term Object Serialization refers to the act of converting the object to a byte stream. The byte stream can be stored on the le system, or can be sent through a network. At the later time the object can be re-created from that stream of bytes. The only requirement is that the same class has to be available at both times, when the object is serialized and also when the object is re-created. If that happens in different servers, then the same class must be available on both servers. Same class means that exactly the same version of the class must be available, otherwise the object wont be able to be re-created. This is a maintenance problem to those applications where java serialization is used to persist object or sent the object through the network. When a class is modied, there could be a problem re-creating those objects that were serialized using an earlier version of the class. Java has built in support for serialization, using the Serializable interface; however, a class must rst implement the Serializable interface. By default, a class will have all of its elds serialized when converted into a data stream (with TRANSIENT 3 elds being skipped.) If additional handling is required beyond the default of writing all elds, you need to provide an implementation for two methods:
private void IOException; private void IOException, private void writeObject(java.io.ObjectOutputStream out) throws readObject(java.io.ObjectInputStream in) throws ClassNotFoundException; readObjectNoData() throws ObjectStreamException;
If the object needs to write or provide a replacement object during serialization, it needs to impement the following two methods, with any access specier:
Object writeReplace() throws ObjectStreamException;
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Object readResolve() throws ObjectStreamException;
Normally, a minor change to the class can cause the serialization to fail. You can still allow the class to be loaded by dening the serialization version id:
private static final long serialVersionUID = 42L;
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25 Interfaces
25.1 Interfaces
Java does not allow you to create a subclass from two classes. There is no multiple inheritance. The major benet of that is that all java objects can have a common ancestor. That class is called Object. All java classes can be up-casted to Object. Example:
class MyObject
{ ... }
When you type the above code, it actually means the following:
class MyObject extends Object // -- The compiler adds extends Object. if not specified { ... }
So it can be guaranteed that certain methods are available in all java classes. This makes the language simpler. To mimic multiple inheritance, java offers interfaces, which are similar to abstract classes. In interfaces all methods are abstract by default, without the abstract key word. Interfaces have no implementation and no variables, but constant values can be dened in interfaces - however, a single class can implement as many interfaces as required.
public interface MyInterface
{
public static nal String CONSTANT = "This value can not be changed"; public String methodOne(); // This method must be implemented by the class that implements this interface
... } ...
public class MyObject implements MyInterface
{ // Implement MyInterface interface public String methodOne() { ... } }
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25.2 External links

I NTERFACES , INTERACTIVE JAVA L ESSON1 I NTERFACES 2, INTERACTIVE JAVA L ESSON2 C ATEGORY:JAVA P ROGRAMMING3
1 2 3
H T T P :// J A V A L E S S O N S . C O M / C G I - B I N / F U N / J A V A - T U T O R I A L S - M A I N . C G I ? S E S = A O 789& C O D E = I F 1& S U B = F U N H T T P :// J A V A L E S S O N S . C O M / C G I - B I N / F U N / J A V A - T U T O R I A L S - M A I N . C G I ? S E S = A O 789& C O D E = I F 2& S U B = F U N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /C A T E G O R Y %3AJ A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G
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26 Using Static Members

26.1 What does static mean?
When you declare a method, or member variable static, it is independent of any particular, but rather it is shared among all instances of a class. To access a static method or member variable, no instance needs to be created. The static keyword is used to declare a method, or member variable static.
26.2 What can it be used for?

Static variables can be used as data sharing amongst objects of the same class. For example to implement a counter that stores the number of objects created at a given time can be dened as so:
public AClass
{
static private int counter;
...
public AClass()
{ ... counter += 1; } ...

public int getNumberOfObjectsCreated()
{
return counter;
} }
The counter variable is incremented each time an object is created. Public static variable should not be used, as these become GLOBAL variables that can be accessed from everywhere in the program. Global constants can be used, however. See below:
static public nal String CONSTANT_VAR = "Const";
Static methods can be used for utility functions or for functions that do not belong to any particular object. For example:
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Using Static Members
public Match
{ ...
public static addTwoNumbers( int par1, int par2 )
{
return par1 + par2;
} }
26.3 Danger of static variables

Use static variables only for: data sharing (be careful) dening global constants Use static methods for: utility functions Using static variables and/or method for other purposes goes against object orientation, and will make your code either harder to read or maintain.
26.4 External links

S TATIC , INTERACTIVE JAVA L ESSON1 C ATEGORY:JAVA P ROGRAMMING2
1 2
H T T P :// J A V A L E S S O N S . C O M / C G I - B I N / F U N / J A V A - T U T O R I A L S - M A I N . C G I ? S E S = A O 789& C O D E = S T C&S U B=F U N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /C A T E G O R Y %3AJ A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G
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27 Destroying Objects
Unlike in many other object-oriented programming languages, Java performs automatic garbage collection - any unreferenced objects are automatically erased from memory - and prohibits the user from manually destroying objects.
27.1 nalize()
When an object is garbage-collected, the programmer may want to manually perform cleanup, such as closing any open input/output streams. To accomplish this, the nalize() method is used. Note that nalize() should never be manually called, except to call a super class nalize method from a derived class nalize method. Also, we can not rely on when the nalize() method will be called. If the java application exits before the object is garbage-collected, the nalize() method may never be called.
protected void finalize() throws Throwable
{
try {
doCleanup(); // Perform some cleanup. If it fails for some reason, it is ignored. } nally { super.finalize(); //Call finalize on the parent object } }
The garbage-collector thread runs in a lower priority than the other threads. If the application creates objects faster than the garbage-collector can claim back memory, the program can run out of memory. The nalize method is required only if there are resources beyond the direct control of the Java Virtual Machine that need to be cleaned up. In particular, there is no need to explicitly close an OutputStream, since the OutputStream will close itself when it gets nalized. Instead, the nalize method is used to release either native or remote resources controlled by the class. C ATEGORY:JAVA P ROGRAMMING1
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Destroying Objects
142
28 Overloading Methods and Constructors

If two methods of a class (whether both declared in the same class, or both inherited by a class, or one declared and one inherited) have the same name but different signatures, then the method name is said to be overloaded. This fact causes no difculty and never of itself results in a compile-time error. There is no required relationship between the return types or between the throws clauses of two methods with the same name but different signatures. Methods are overridden on a signature-by-signature basis. If, for example, a class declares two public methods with the same name, and a subclass overrides one of them, the subclass still inherits the other method. In this respect, the Java programming language differs from C++. When a method is invoked, the number of actual arguments and the compile-time types of the arguments are used, at compile time, to determine the signature of the method that will be invoked . If the method that is to be invoked is an instance method, the actual method to be invoked will be determined at run time, using dynamic method lookup. C ATEGORY:JAVA P ROGRAMMING1
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29 Arrays
29.1 Intro to Arrays
An array is similar to a table of data, keyed by number. In Java an array is an object like all other objects. Look at the following program: UNKNOWN TEMPLATE "Java_Code_File" Copy the code and compile it. The program will ask you to enter some names then reprints the names in order. It demonstrates three major aspects of arrays: how to dene an array, how to set data, and how to access it. The code String[] names = new String[numNames]; tells Java to create an array of size numNames that will store Strings. To set data, use names[x] = data where x is the index to access. Note that all Java arrays start at 0 and go to (array size - 1). Thus, if you dimension an array to size 10, the highest index is 9.
29.2 Array Fundamentals

To create an array, use the syntax DataType[] variable = new DataType[ArraySize]. Alternatively, if you know the data beforehand, you can write DataType[] variable = {item 1, item
2,...item n}
All elements of the array will be automatically initialized with the default value for that datatype. This is false for booleans, 0 for all numeric primitive types, and null for all reference types. So for example, the previous note created an array of DataType references, all of which are initialized to null. To access an item, use the syntax variable[i] where i is the index To set an item, use the syntax variable[i] = data To nd the length of an array, use the syntax variable.length
29.3 Two-Dimensional Arrays

A two dimensional array is represented by an array of an array. Because an array is also an object, like any other object having the Object as the super class, it can be used to create an array where the element of the array is also an array. In this way an array with any number of dimensions can be created. Here are examples of two dimensional arrays with initializer blocks:
String [][] twoDimArray = { {"00", "01", "02", "03", "04"},
{"10", "11", "12", "13", "14"}, {"20", "21", "22", "23", "23"} };
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Arrays
...
int [][] twoDimIntArray =
{ {00, 01, 02, 03, 04}, {10, 11, 12, 13, 14}, {20, 21, 22, 23, 24} };
Note that the above "twoDimArray" is equivalent to the following more verbose code:
String [][] twoDimArray = new String[3][];
for (int i = 0; i < twoDimArray.length; i++) { twoDimArray[i] = new String[5]; for (int j = 0; j < twoDimArray[i].length; j++) twoDimArray[i][j] = "" + i + j; }
In the above example we dened an array which has three elements, each element contains an array having 5 elements. We could create the array having the 5 elements rst and use that one in the initialize block.
String [] oneDimArray = {"00", "01", "02", "03", "04"}; String [][] twoDimArray = { oneDimArray ,
{"10", "11", "12", "13", "14"}, {"20", "21", "22", "23", "24"} };
Since they are arrays of array references, these multi-dimensional arrays can be "jagged" (i.e. subarrays can have different lenghts), or the subarray reference can even be null. Consider
String [][] weirdTwoDimArray = { {"10", "11", "12"},
null, {"20", "21", "22", "23", "24"} };
29.4 Multidimensional Array

Going further any number of dimensional array can be dened.
<elementType>[][]...[] <arrayName> or <elementType><arrayName>[][]...[]
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30 Collection Classes
Collections are a group of objects bound together by a common characteristic. Java has various built-in classes to support the collection of objects, either of the same type or general. The most basic construct to work with is the array of which you will come to know of in a SECTION1 later in this chapter.
30.1 Introduction to Collections

The most basic collection interface is called Collection. This interface gives the user a generic usage of a collection.
import java.util.Collection; import java.util.ArrayList; import java.util.HashSet;
// Interface // Implementation // Implementation
... Collection coll1 = new ArrayList(); Collection coll2 = new HashSet(); ... < Use coll1 & coll2 >
In the above there are two collections. The usage of the collections are the same, the implementations are different. If the existing collection implementations do not meet your needs, you can write your version of the implementation. Your version of the implementation just needs to implement the same java.util.Collection interface, then you can switch to using your implementation and the code that is using the collection does not need to be changed.
import java.util.Collection; import com.yourcomp.util.YourCollectionImpl;
... Collection coll1 = new YourCollectionImpl(); Collection coll2 = new YourCollectionImpl(); ... < Use coll1 & coll2 >
The Java JDK collection implementations are quite powerful and good, so it is unlikely that you will need to write your own. All collections contain object references. Because of that, if the object is changed after it was put in the collection, the object that is in the collection also changes. The object is not really in the collection, only the object reference is. It is not guaranteed that the objects inside the collections
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Collection Classes
wont change. This is an issue only if you put an actively used object in the collection. In that case when you are adding an object that could change any time you need to make a copy or clone of the object. A new object will be created and its reference will be put in the collection. In that case there will be no object references outside of the collection, so the objects inside the collection can only be changed if we take out an object reference from the collection. Aside from the java.util.Collection interface, the Java JDK has the java.util.Map interface as well. This denes key value mappings. Implementations of the Map interface do not contain collections of objects. Instead they contain collections of key->value mappings.
import java.util.Map; import java.util.Hashtable;
... Map map = new Hashtable(); ... map.put( key, value );
All collections need to have the same basic operations. Those are: Adding element(s) to the collection Removing element(s) from the collection Obtaining the number of elements in the collection Listing the contents of the collection, (Iterating through the collection)
Before selecting a particular collection implementation, ask the following question: Can my collection contain the same elements, i.e. are duplicates allowed? Can my collection contain the null element? Should the collection maintain the order of the elements? Is the order important in any way? How do you want to access an element? By index, key or just with an iterator? Does the collection need to be synchronized? From a performance perspective, which one needs to be faster, updates or reads? From a usage perspective, which operation will be more frequent, updates or reads?
Once you know your needs, you can select an exsisting implementation. But rst decide if you need a Collection, or a Map.
30.2 Generics
Since JDK version 1.5 an enhancement to the type system of the Java language has been added. It is called Generics. Most often Generics will be used with the collection classes. parameterized type <E> : All collection implementations since 1.5 now have one parameterized type <E> added. The E refers to an Element type. When a collection is created the actual Element type will replace the E. Objects put into a collection are upcasted to Object class. It means that you need to cast the object reference back when you get an element out from the collection. It also means that you need to know the type of the object when you taking it out. For this reason we usually add objects of the
148
Collection or Map
same type to a collection. If a collection contains different types of objects, we will have difculty nding out the type of the objects obtained from a collection at run time. With the use of the parameterized type <E>, the Element-type that can be put into the collection can be specied when the collection object is created.
Collection<Integer> ageList = new ArrayList<Integer>(); ageList.add( new Integer(46) ); // --- Integer can be added ageList.add( "50" ); // --- Compilation error, ageList can have only Integers inside
ageList is a collection that can contain only Integer objects as elements. No casting is required when we take out an element.
Integer age = ageList.get(0);
For more information about Generics, please go to JAVA P ROGRAMMING /G ENERICS2 .
30.3 Collection or Map

The Java JDK contains two high level Interfaces: java.util.Collection java.util.Map Implementations for those interfaces are not interchangeable. Collections are used for collecting Java objects. Maps are used for mapping key/value pairs.
30.3.1 Collection
Use the Collection interface if you need to keep related (usually the same type of) objects together in a collection where you can: Search for a particular element List the elements Maintain and/or change the order of the elements by using the collection basic operations (Add, Remove, Update,..) Access the elements by an index number The advantages of using the Collection interface are: Gives a generic usage, as we talked about above, it is easy to switch implementation It makes it easy to convert one type of collection to an other. The Collection interface denes the following basic operations: boolean add( E o );
2 Chapter 22 on page 119
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Collection Classes
boolean addAll( Collection c ); boolean remove( Object o ); boolean removeAll( Collection c ); boolean retainAll( Collection c );
The methods above return true if the collection has changed due to the operation. Note that in addAll() we can add any type of collection. This is the beauty of using the Collection interface. You can have a LinkedList and just call the addAll(list) method, passing in a list. You can pass in a Vector, an ArrayList, a HashSet, a TreeSet, a YourImpOfCollection, ... All those different type of collections will be magically converted to a LinkList. Lets have a closer look at this magic. The conversion is easy because the Collection interface denes a standard way of looping through the elements. The following code is a possible implementation of addAll() method of the LinkList.
import java.util.Collection import java.util.Iterator
...
public String addAll( Collection coll )
{ int sizeBefore = _linkList.size();

Iterator iter = coll.iterator();
while( iter.hasNext() ) {
_linkList.add( iter.next() );
} if ( sizeBefore > _linkList.size() ) { return true; } else { return false; } }
The above code just iterates through the passed in collection and adds the elements to the link list. You do not have to do that, since that is already dened. What you might need to code for is to loop through a Customer collection:
import java.util.Collection import java.util.Iterator import java.yourcompany.Customer
...
public String printCustomerNames( Collection customerColl )
{ StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer();

Iterator iter = customerColl.iterator();
while( iter.hasNext() ) {
Customer cust = (Customer) iter.next();
buf.append( cust.getName() ); buf.append( "\n" ); }

return buf.toString();
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Collection or Map
Notice two things: The above code will work for all type of collections. We have to know the type of objects inside the collection, because we call a method on it.
30.3.2 Map
Figure 11: Figure 1:Map Interfaces
A map, sometimes also called an Associated Array or a Dictionary, can be thought of as an array where the index need not be an integer. Use the Map interface if you need to keep related objects together in a Map where you can: Access an element by a key object Map one object to other java.util.Map<K,V> : maps keys to values. A map cannot contain duplicate keys; each key can map to at most one value. The Map interface provides three collection views, which allow a maps contents to be viewed as a set of keys, collection of values, or set of key-value mappings. The key is usually a non-mutable object. The value object however can be a mutable object. java.util.SortedMap<K,V> : same as the Map interface, plus the keys in the Map are sorted.
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Collection Classes
30.4 Set or List or Queue
Figure 12: Figure 2:
There is no direct implementation for the java.util.Collection interface. The Collection interface has ve sub interfaces. Those are: java.util.Set<E> : contains unique elements, so duplicates not allowed. It is similar to a mathematical Set. java.util.List<E> : elements are put in the list in a certain order, and can be accessed by an index. Duplicates are allowed, the same element can be added to a list. java.util.SortedSet<E> : same as the Set interface; plus the elements in the SortedSet are sorted java.util.Queue<E> : queues provide additional insertion, extraction, and inspection operations. There are FIFO (rst in, rst out) and LIFO (last in, rst out) queues. java.util.BlockingQueue<E> : waits for the queue to become non-empty when retrieving an element, and waits for space to become available in the queue when storing an element. Best used for producer-consumer queues.
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Set or List or Queue
30.4.1 Set
The basic implementation of the Set interface is the HashSet.
../tmp/13.jpg
Figure 13
java.util.TreeSet<E>: Elements are sorted, not synchronized. null not allowed java.util.HashSet<E> : Not synchronized. Allows the null elements java.util.CopyOnWriteArraySet<E> : Thread safe, a fresh copy is created during modication operation. Add, update, delete are expensive.
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Collection Classes
java.util.EnumSet<E extends Enum<E>> : All of the elements in an enum set must come from a single enum type that is specied, explicitly or implicitly, when the set is created. Enum sets are represented internally as bit vectors. java.util.LinkedHashSet<E> : Same as HashSet, plus denes the iteration ordering, which is the order in which elements were inserted into the set.
Detecting duplicate objects in Sets
Set cannot have duplicates in it. You may wonder how duplicates are detected when we are adding an object to the Set. We have to see if that object exists in the Set or not. It is not enough to check the object references, the objects values have to be checked as well. To do that, fortunately, each java object has the boolean equal(Object obj);3 , method available inherited from Object. You need to override it. That method will be called by the Set implementation to compare the two objects to see if they are equal or not. There is a problem, though. What if I put two different type of objects to the Set. I put an Apple and an Orange. They can not be compared. Calling the equal()4 method would cause a ClassCastException. There are two solutions to this: Solution one : Override the int hashCode()5 method and return the same values for the same type of objects and return different values for different type of objects. The equal()6 method is used to compare objects only with the same value of hashCode. So before an object is added, the Set implementation needs to: nd all the objects in the Set that has the same hashCode as the candidate object hashCode and for those, call the equal()7 methods passing in the candidate object if any of them returns true, the object is not added to the Set. Solution two : Create a super class for the Apple and Orange, lets call it Fruit class. Put Fruits in the Set. You need to do the following: Do not override the equals() and hashCode() methods in the Apple and Orange classes Create appleEquals() method in the Apple class, and create orangeEquals() method in the Orange class Override the hashCode() method in the Fruit class and return the same value, so the equals() is called by the Set implementation Override the equals() method in the Fruit class for something like this.
public boolean equals( Object obj ) {
3 4 5 6 7
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FAPI%2F J A V A . L A N G .O B J E C T % 23 E Q U A L S %28%29%20M E T H O D H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FAPI%2F J A V A . L A N G .O B J E C T %23 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FAPI%2F J A V A . L A N G .O B J E C T % 23 H A S H C O D E %28%29%20M E T H O D H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FAPI%2F J A V A . L A N G .O B J E C T %23 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FAPI%2F J A V A . L A N G .O B J E C T %23
154
boolean ret = false; if ( this instanceof Apple && obj instanceof Apple ) { ret = this.appleEquals(obj); } else if ( this instanceof Orange && obj instanceof Orange ) { ret = this.orangeEquals(obj); } else { // --- Can not compare Orange to Apple --ret = false; } return ret;
Note:
only the objects that have the same hashCode will be compared. you are responsible to override the equal() and hashCode() methods. The default implementations in Object wont work. Only override the hashCode()8 method if you want to eliminate value duplicates. Do not override the hashCode()9 method if you know that the values of your objects are different, or if you only want to prevent adding the exactly same object. Beware that the hashCode()10 may be used in other collection implementaions, like in a Hashtable to nd an object fast. Overriding the default hashCode() method may affect performance there. the default hashCodes are unique for each object created, so if you decide not to override the hashCode() method, there is no point overriding the equal() method, as it wont be called.
SortedSet
The SortedSet interface extends the Set Interface. All elements in the SortedSet must implement the Comparable Interface, futher more all elements must be mutually comparable. Note that the ordering maintained by a sorted set must be consistent with equals if the sorted set is to correctly implement the Set interface. This is so because the Set interface is dened in terms of the equals operation, but a sorted set performs all element comparisons using its compareTo (or compare) method, so two elements that are deemed equal by this method are, from the standpoint of the sorted set, equal.
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FAPI%2F J A V A . L A N G .O B J E C T % 23 H A S H C O D E %28%29%20M E T H O D 9 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FAPI%2F J A V A . L A N G .O B J E C T % 23 H A S H C O D E %28%29%20M E T H O D 10 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FAPI%2F J A V A . L A N G .O B J E C T % 23 H A S H C O D E %28%29%20M E T H O D
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Collection Classes
The SortedSet interface has additional methods due to the sorted nature of the Set. Those are: E first(); -- returns the rst element E last(); -- returns the last element SortedSet headSet(E toElement); -- returns from the rst, to the exclusive toElement SortedSet tailSet(E fromElement); -- returns from the inclusive fromElement to the end SortedSet subSet(E fromElement, E toElement); -- returns elements range from fromElement, inclusive, to toElement, exclusive. (If fromElement and toElement are equal, the returned sorted set is empty.)
30.4.2 List
The List has the following implemenations:
../tmp/14.jpg
Figure 14
156
java.util.Vector<E> : Syncronized, use in multiple thread access, otherwise use ArrayList java.util.Stack<E> : It extends class Vector with ve operations that allow a vector to be treated as a stack. It represents a last-in-rst-out (LIFO) stack of objects. java.util.ArrayList<E> : Non-syncronized, use in single thread environment, otherwise use Vector java.util.LinkedList<E> : Non-syncronized, update operation is faster than other lists, easy to use for stacks, queues, double-ended queues. javax.management.AtributeList<E> : Represents a list of values for attributes of an MBean. The methods used for the insertion of Attribute objects in the AttributeList overrides the corresponding methods in the superclass ArrayList. This is needed in order to insure that the objects contained in the AttributeList are only Attribute objects. javax.management.relation.RoleList<E> : A RoleList represents a list of roles (Role objects). It is used as parameter when creating a relation, and when trying to set several roles in a relation (via setRoles() method). It is returned as part of a RoleResult, to provide roles successfully retrieved. javax.management.relation.RoleUnresolvedList<E> : A RoleUnresolvedList represents a list of RoleUnresolved objects, representing roles not retrieved from a relation due to a problem encountered when trying to access (read or write to roles). The basic implemenation of the List interface is the ArrayList. The ArrayList is not syncronized, not thread safe. Vector is syncronized, and thread safe. Vector is slower, because of the extra overhead to make it thread safe. When only one thread is accessing the list, use the ArrayList. Whenever you insert or remove an element from the list, there are extra overhead to reindex the list. When you have a large list, and you have lots of insert and remove, consider using the LinkedList. The name LinkList implies a special data structure where the elements/nodes are connected by pointers. To remove an element from the link list the pointers need to be rearranged.
Head Node 1 Node 2 Node n ______ | Size | _________________ _______________ _____________ |______| | | point | | | point | | | | | First|-------->| Data | to next |------>| Data | to next|-- ... -->| Data | null | | elem | |______|_________| |______|________| |______|______| |______| | | Last |----------------------------------------------------------------|_elem_|
After removing Node 2:

Head Node n Node 1 Node 2
157
Collection Classes
______ ___________________...________ | Size | _________________ | _______________ _|____________ |_- 1__| | | point | | | | point | | | | | First|-------->| Data | to next |---| Data | to next| | Data | null | | elem | |______|_________| |______|________| |______|______| |______| | | Last |----------------------------------------------------------------|_elem_|
30.4.3 Queue
The Queue interface adds the following operations to the Collection interface:
E element()
boolean offer(E o) E peek()
E poll() E remove()
Retrieves, but does not remove, the head of this queue. This method differs from the peek method only in that it throws an exception if this queue is empty Inserts the specied element into this queue, if possible. Retrieves, but does not remove, the head of this queue, returning null if this queue is empty Retrieves and removes the head of this queue, or null if this queue is empty Retrieves and removes the head of this queue. This method differs from the poll method in that it throws an exception if this queue is empty.
158
Map Classes
java.util.PriorityQueue<E> : orders elements according to an order/priority specied at construction time, null element is not allowed. java.util.concorrent.ArrayBlockingQueue<E> : orders elements FIFO; syncronized, Figure 15 thread safe. java.util.concorrent.SyncronousQueue<E> : each put must wait for a take, and vice versa, does not have any internal capacity, not even a capacity of one, an element is only present when you try to take it; you cannot add an element (using any method) unless another thread is trying to remove it
30.5 Map Classes

The Map interface has the following implementations:
159
Collection Classes
Figure 16
java.util.TreeMap<E>: guarantees that the map will be in ascending key order, sorted according to the natural order for the keys class, not-syncronized. java.util.HashMap<E> : is roughly equivalent to Hashtable, except that it is unsynchronized and permits nulls java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap : same Hashtable, plus retrieval operations (including get) generally do not block, so may overlap with update operations (including put and remove). java.util.Hashtable<E> : Syncronized, null can not be used as key java.util.WeakHashMap<E> : entry in a WeakHashMap will automatically be removed when its key is no longer in ordinary use. Nonsyncronized. java.util.LinkedHashMap<E> : This linked list denes the iteration ordering, which is normally the order in which keys were inserted into the map (insertion-order). Note that insertion order is not affected if a key is re-inserted into the map. java.util.IdentityHashMap : This class implements the Map interface with a hash table, using reference-equality in place of object-equality when comparing keys (and values). In other words, in an IdentityHashMap, two keys k1 and k2 are considered equal if and only if
160
Classes Diagram (UML)
(k1==k2). (In normal Map implementations (like HashMap) two keys k1 and k2 are considered equal if and only if (k1==null ? k2==null : k1.equals(k2)).) Not-syncronized. java.util.EnumMap : All of the keys in an enum map must come from a single enum type that is specied, explicitly or implicitly, when the map is created. Enum maps are represented internally as arrays. This representation is extremely compact and efcient. Not-syncronized.
30.6 Thread Safe Collections

It is also called Concurrent Collections. Most of the popular collection classes have implementations for both single thread and multiple thread environments. The non-synchronized implementations are always faster. You can use the non-synchronized implementations in multiple thread environments, when you make sure that only one thread updating the collection at any given time. A new Java JDK package was introduced at Java 1.5, that is java.util.concurrent. This package supplies a few Collection implementations designed for use in multithreaded environments. The following table list all the syncronized collection classes:
syncronized non-syncronized
java.util.Vector List java.util.Stack
java.util.ArrayList
Set
Map
java.util.LinkList java.util.concurrent.CopyOnWriteArrayList java.util.TreeSet java.util.HashSet java.util.LinkHashSet java.util.concurrent.CopyOnWriteArraySet java.util.TreeMap java.util.Hashtable java.util.HashMap java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap java.util.LinkedHashMap java.util.IdentityHashMap java.util.EnumMap
30.7 Classes Diagram (UML)

The following UML class diagram shows the Collection interfaces and their implementations.
161
Collection Classes
Figure 17
The following UML class diagram shows the Map interfaces and their implementations.
Figure 18
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External links
30.8 External links

JAVA T UTORIAL ON C OLLECTIONS11 C ATEGORY:JAVA P ROGRAMMING12
11 12
H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / D O C S / B O O K S / T U T O R I A L / C O L L E C T I O N S / I N T E R F A C E S / C O L L E C T I O N . HTML H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /C A T E G O R Y %3AJ A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G
163
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164
31 Throwing and Catching Exceptions

In Java, there are two main ow of code executions. Normal main sequential code execution, the program doing what it meant to accomplish Exception handling code execution, the main program ow was interrupted by an error or some other condition that prevent the continuation of the normal main sequential code execution. After the interruption, that is when the exception is "thrown", the search for the rst matching catch block/clause begins, the search is going backward against the main ow, until a match is found. The exception handling is built in to the language. There is a keyword to throw an exception, there is keyword to catch an exception, and there is keyword(throws) to declare that a method could throw an exception that the caller has to deal with. An exception can be thrown from anywhere in the code by the throw keyword, plus specifying a Java object, that is instance of the Throwable class. Applications should sub-class the Exception class as an exception object to be thrown. The following is an example of throwing an instance of the ExceptionClass.
throw new ExceptionClass("Something happened, the main program flow has to be interrupted, the caller has to be informed about this");
At the above line the current method execution is interrupted and the created exception object is thrown back to the caller. The exception object should contain the information about the reason of the interruption. The caller of the method catches the exception by the catch keyword.
catch (ExceptionClass e) { // --- What to do with this interruption ??? --}
Sometimes just the name of the exception class is enough to know the reason of the interruption.
31.1 Catching Matching rules

When an exception is "thrown", the search for the rst matching catch block/clause begins. There are ve main catching matching rules:
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Throwing and Catching Exceptions
1. A thrown exception object, can be caught by the catch keyword with specifying the exception objects class or its super-class. 2. When there are a list of catch clauses, it is evaluated sequentially, applying the rst rule. If there is a catch, the following catch clauses are ignored. 3. If there is a catch clause in the list, which will never be executed, because its super-class are listed before it, the compiler will give an error message. 4. The compiler enforce that all Exception and its sub-class exceptions must be handled by the programmer, except the RuntimeException and its sub-classes. 5. If the try block would never throw an exception that is specied in the catch list, the compiler gives an error.
31.1.1 Rule number 1

A thrown exception object, can be caught by the catch keyword with specifying the exception objects class or its super-class. The Throwable class is the super-class of all exception class. So specifying with the catch keyword we can catch all type of exceptions. The following piece of code would catch all type of exception, but is not recommended for normal use:
catch (Throwable th) { // --- I caught all type of exception --log_it( th ); // --- I was not suppose to catch Throwable so I throw it again --throw th; }
There are some special exceptions that used by the JVM, those are the sub-classes of java.lang.Error. We are not suppose the catch them. So we should use the following code to catch all application, and runtime exceptions.
catch (Exception e) { // --- I caught all application and runtime exceptions --log_it( e ); // --- I dont know how to handle this, so I throw it again --throw e; }

When there are a list of catch clauses, it is evaluated sequentially, applying the rst rule, for each clause. If there is a catch, the following catch clauses are ignored. The following piece of code demonstrates rule number 2.
166
Catching Matching rules
The NullPointerException is caught by the rst catch clause, the following catch clauses are ignored. The second catch clause will catch all RuntimeExceptions, except the NullPointerException, because that will be caught by the rst clause. All exceptions that are dened by the application, will be caught by the last catch clause, see below.
catch (NullPointerException e) { // --- I caught a Nulpointer ex. --log_it( e ); // --- I dont know how to handle this, so I throw it again --throw e; } catch (RuntimeException e) { // --- I caught runtime ex. but not NullPointer --log_it( e ); // --- I dont know how to handle this, so I throw it again --throw e; } catch (Exception e) { // --- I caught all application but not Runtime exceptions --log_it( e ); // --- I dont know how to handle this, so I throw it again --throw e; }

If there is a catch clause in the list which will never be executed, because its super-class are listed before it, the compiler will give an error message. The following piece of code will not compile, it will give an error message saying that the last catch clause will never be executed. This demonstrates that the exception handling is built into the language. The compiler checks the list of catch clauses and reports an error if class follows any of it super-class on the list.
catch (NullPointerException e) { // --- I caught a Nullpointer ex. --log_it( e ); // --- I dont know how to handle this, so I throw it again --throw e; } catch (Exception e) { // --- I caught all application but not Runtime exceptions --log_it( e ); // --- I dont know how to handle this, so I throw it again --throw e; } catch (RuntimeException e) { // -- COMPILATION ERROR, THIS CODE WILL NEVER BE EXECUTED --// --- I caught runtime ex. but not NullPointer --log_it( e ); // --- I dont know how to handle this, so I throw it again ---throw e; }
167

The compiler enforce that all Exception and its sub-class exceptions must be handled by the programmer, except the RuntimeException and its sub-classes. From the applications point of view there are two types of exceptions. One is called RuntimeException, that suppose to be thrown when there is an anticipated bug in the code. For example, if the program tries to access an array, with a number that is out side of the array size, then a RuntimeException is thrown. There are many other possibilities which indicate a coding bug. The other type of exception is called the application exception. During application design a list of possible exception is dened that can anticipated during executing the business logic code. For example, the application tries to retrieve a customer, but the customer does not exist. This may not necessarily be a bug. In this case an application exception should be thrown. Application exceptions are sub-classes of the Exception class. The java language enforces that all application exceptions are dealt with by the application programmer. If a method throws an application exception, that must be declared in the method signature by the throws keyword. The caller of that method can either catch the exception by a catch block or it can make sure that it is being declared to be thrown in the current method, and so on. The search for a catch block goes backward on the methods track trace, until a match is found. The compiler ensures that someone has to handle the exception. The following method can throw a CustomerNotFoundException, so it must declare it at the method signature.
public String method() throws CustomerNotFoundException { ... throw new CustomerNotFoundException(); ... }

If the try block would never throw an exception that is specied in the catch list, the compiler gives an error. The following code would not compile because inside the try block no Exception is thrown.
try { ... } catch ( Exception e ) { }
The above code wont compile, because the try block does not throw exception. The compiler can be fooled with the following code.
168
Example of handling exceptions
try { if ( 1 == 0 ) throw new Exception(); ... } catch ( Exception e ) { }
The above code will compile now.
31.2 Example of handling exceptions

Lets examine the following code:
public void methodA() throws SomeException, AnotherException { //methodbody } public void methodB() throws CustomException { //Methodbody } public void methodC() { methodB(); methodA(); }
In the code sample, methodC is invalid. Because methodA and methodB pass (or throw) exceptions, methodC must be prepared to handle them. This can be handled in two ways: a try - catch block, which will handle the exception within the method and a throws clause which would in turn throw the exception to the caller to handle. The above example will cause a compilation error, as Java is very strict about exception handling. So the programmer forced to handle any possible error condition at some point. A method can do two things with an exception. Ask the calling method to handle it by the throws declaration. Or handle the exception inside the method by the try-catch block. To construct a throws declaration, add throws ExceptionName (additional exceptions can be added with commas). To construct a try - catch block, use the following syntax
... try { //Possibly exception-causing code } catch (TheException e) { //Handle the exception } finally { //Optional. Executes regardless of exceptions thrown }
169
The original code can be modied to work correctly in multiple ways. For example, the following:
public void methodC() throws CustomException, SomeException { try { methodB(); } catch (AnotherException e) { //handle it } methodA(); }
The AnotherException from methodB will be handled locally, while CustomException and SomeException will be thrown to the caller to handle it.
31.3 Application Exceptions

Application Exception classes should extend the java.lang.Exception class. Some of the JDK classes also throw exception objects inherited from java.lang.Exception. If any of those Exception object is thrown, it must be caught by the application some point, by a catch-block. The compiler will enforce that there is a catch-block associated with an exception thrown, if the thrown exception object is inherited from java.lang.Exception and it is not the java.lang.RuntimeException or its inherited objects. However, java.lang.RuntimeException or its inherited objects, can be caught by the application, but that is not enforced by the compiler. Lets see what is the catching criteria for a catch block to catch the "thrown" exception. A catch-block will "catch" a thrown exception if and only if: the thrown exception object is the same as the exception object specied by the catch-block the thrown exception object is the subtype of the exception object specied by the catch-block
try { throw new Exception( "This will be caught below" );
}
catch( Exception e ) {
// --- The "thrown" object is the same what is specified at the catch-block -}
try { throw new NullPointerException( "This will be caught below" );
}
// --- NullPointerException is subclass of the Exception class -}
170
Runtime Exceptions
There can be more than one catch-block for a try-block. The catching blocks evaluated sequentially one by one. If a catch-block catch the exception, the others will not be evaluated. Example:
}
// --- The above NullPointerException will catched by here -}

catch(<strike> NullPointerException e </strike>) {
// --- THIS CODE IS
NEVER EXECUTED - Compiler error // --}
Because NullPointerException is subclass of the Exception class. All NullPointerExceptions will be caught by the rst catch-block. Instead the above code should be rewritten as follows:
}
catch( NullPointerException e ) {
// --- The above NullPointerException will caught }

here ---
// --- Any other exception except the NullPointerException will be caught here -}
31.4 Runtime Exceptions

The java.lang.RuntimeException exception class is inherited from java.lang.Exception. It is a special exception class, because catching this exception class or its subclasses are not enforced by the Java compiler. runtime exception : Runtime exceptions are usually caused by data errors, like arithmetic overow, divide by zero, ... . Runtime exceptions are not business related exceptions. In a well debugged code, runtime exceptions should not occur. Runtime exceptions should only be used in the case that the exception could be thrown by and only by something hard-coded into the program. These should not be able to be triggered by the softwares user(s).
31.4.1 NullPointerException
NullPointerException is a RuntimeException. In Java, a special null can be assigned to an object reference. NullPointerException is thrown when an application attempts to use an object reference, having the null value. These include: Calling an instance method on the object referred by a null reference.
171
Accessing or modifying an instance eld of the object referred by a null reference. If the reference type is an array type, taking the length of a null reference. If the reference type is an array type, accessing or modifying the slots of a null reference. If the reference type is a subtype of Throwable, throwing a null reference.
Applications should throw instances of this class to indicate other illegal uses of the null object.
Object obj = null;
... obj.toString();
// --- This will throw a NullPointerException ---
The above code shows one of the pitfall of Java, and the most common source of bugs. No object is created and the compiler does not detect it. NullPointerException is one of the most common exceptions thrown in Java. why do we need null ? : The reason we need it is because many times we need to create an object reference, before the object itself is created. Object references cannot exist without a value, so we assign the null value to it.
public Customer getCustomer()
{ Customer customer = null; try { ... customer = createCustomer(); ... } catch ( Exception e) { ... } return customer; }
In the above code we want to create the Customer inside the try-block, but we also want to return the object reference to the caller, so we need to create the object reference outside of the try-block, because of the scoping rule in Java. This is one of the pitfall of Java.
31.5 Main Exception Classes
172
Main Exception Classes
java.lang.Throwable : The Throwable class is the superclass of all errors and exceptions in the Java language. Only objects that are instances of this class (or one of its subclasses) are thrown by the Java Virtual Machine or can be thrown by the Java throw statement. A throwable contains a snapshot of the execution stack of its thread at the time it was created. It can also contain a message string that gives more information about the error. Finally, it can contain a cause: another throwable that caused this throwable to get thrown. The cause facility is new in release 1.4. It is also known as the chained exception facility, as the cause can, itself, have a cause, and so on, leading to a "chain" of exceptions, each caused by another java.lang.Error : An Error indicates serious problems that a reasonable application should not try to catch. Most such errors are abnormal conditions. java.lang.Exception : The class Exception and its subclasses are a form of Throwable that indicates conditions that a reasonable application might want to catch. Also this is the class that a programmer may want to extend when adding business logic exceptions. java.lang.RuntimeException : RuntimeException is the superclass of those exceptions that can be thrown during the normal operation of the Java Virtual Machine. A method is not required to declare in its throws clause any subclasses of RuntimeException that might be thrown during the execution of the method but not caught. java.lang.NullPointerException : Thrown when an application attempts to use null in a case where an object is required.
Figure 19
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31.6 See Also

JAVA P ROGRAMMING /K EYWORDS / TRY1 JAVA P ROGRAMMING /K EYWORDS / CATCH2 JAVA P ROGRAMMING /K EYWORDS / THROWS3 JAVA P ROGRAMMING /K EYWORDS / THROW4
C ATEGORY:JAVA P ROGRAMMING5 This page describes some techniques for preventing NullPointerException. It does not describe general techniques for how you should program Java. It is of some use, to make you more aware of null values, and to be more careful about generating them yourself. Note that this list is not complete - there are no rules for preventing NullPointerException entirely in Java, because the standard libraries have to be used, and they can cause NullPointerExceptions. Also, it is possible to observe an uninitialised nal eld in Java, so you cant even treat a nal eld as being completely trusted during the objects creation. A good approach is to learn how to deal with NullPointerExceptions rst, and become competent with that. These suggestions will help you to cause less NullPointerExceptions, but they dont replace the need to know about NullPointerExceptions.
31.7 Minimize the use of the keyword null in assignment statements

This means not doing things like:
String s=null; while (something) if (something2) s="yep";
if (s!=null)
something3(s);
You can replace this with:

boolean done=false; while (!done && something) if (something2)
{ done=true; something3("yep"); }
1 2 3 4 5
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FK E Y W O R D S %2F T R Y H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FK E Y W O R D S %2F C A T C H H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FK E Y W O R D S %2F T H R O W S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FK E Y W O R D S %2F T H R O W H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /C A T E G O R Y %3AJ A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G
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Minimize the use of the new Type[int] syntax for creating arrays of objects
You might also consider replacing null with "" in the rst example, but default values bring about bugs caused by default values being left in place. A NullPointerException is actually better, as it allows the runtime to tell you about the bug, rather than just continue with a default value.
31.8 Minimize the use of the new Type[int] syntax for creating arrays of objects
An array created using new Object[10] has 10 null pointers. Thats 10 more than we want, so use collections instead, or explicitly ll the array at initialisation with:
Object[] objects={"blah",5,new File("/usr/bin")};
or:
Object[] objects; objects=new Object[]{"blah",5,new File("/usr/bin")};
31.9 Check all references obtained from untrusted methods

Many methods that can return a reference can return a null reference. Make sure you check these. For example:
File file=new File("/etc"); File[] files=file.listFiles(); if (files!=null) { stuff }
File.listFiles() can return null if "/etc" is not a directory. You can decide to trust some methods not to return null, if you like, but thats an assumption youre making. Some methods that dont specify that they might return null, actually do, instead of throwing an exception.
31.10 Comparing string variable with a string literal

When you compare a variable with a string literal, always put the string literal rst. For example do:
if ( "OK".equals( state ) ) { ...
175

}
and do not do: <strike>

if ( state.equals( "OK" ) ) { ... }
</strike> If the state variable is null, you get a NullPointerException in the second example, but not in the rst one. C ATEGORY:JAVA P ROGRAMMING6
31.11 See also

JAVA PLATFORM7 JAVA API8 JAVA VIRTUAL MACHINE9 GCC 10 (includes a Java to machine language compiler) C OMPARISON OF JAVA TO C++11 . JINI12 E CLIPSE13 IDE14 http://eclipse.org/ N ET B EANS15 (Another open source IDE) O PTIMIZATION OF JAVA16
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /C A T E G O R Y %3AJ A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20 P L A T F O R M H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20API H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20 V I R T U A L %20 M A C H I N E H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /GNU%20C O M P I L E R %20C O L L E C T I O N H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /C O M P A R I S O N %20 O F %20J A V A %20 T O %20C P L U S P L U S H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /JINI H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /E C L I P S E %20%28 C O M P U T I N G %29
H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /O P E N %20 S O U R C E %20I N T E G R A T E D %20D E V E L O P M E N T % 20E N V I R O N M E N T 15 H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /N E T B E A N S 16 H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /O P T I M I Z A T I O N %20 O F %20J A V A
176
32 Links
32.1 External References
JAVA C ERTIFICATION M OCK E XAMS1 500+ questions with exam simulator (this is the older 1.4 version of the exam) JAVA L ANGUAGE S PECIFICATION , 3 RD E DITION2 . T HINKING IN JAVA3 JAVA 5 SDK D OCUMENTATION4 JAVA 5 SDK D OCUMENTATION IN CHM F ORMAT5 JAVA 5 API D OCUMENTATION6 T HE JAVA T UTORIAL7 Sun Developer Network N EW TO JAVA C ENTER8 A SIMPLE JAVA T UTORIAL 9 T WO S EMESTERS OF C OLLEGE -L EVEL JAVA L ECTURES --F REE10 JAVA L ESSONS - I NTERACTIVE JAVA PROGRAMMING TUTORIALS BASED ON EXAMPLES11 JAVA T UTORIALS FOR K IDS AND A DULTS12
32.2 External links

JAVA C ERTIFICATION M OCK E XAMS13 500+ questions with exam simulator S WING W IKI14 - Open documentation project containing tips, tricks and best practices for Java Swing development JAVAT IPS15 - Blog project containing best JAVA tips and tricks F REE JAVA / A DVANCED JAVA B OOKS16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
H T T P :// W W W . C E R T I F I C A T I O N 4 C A R E E R . C O M H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / D O C S / B O O K S / J L S / T H I R D _ E D I T I O N / H T M L / J 3TOC. H T M L H T T P :// W W W . M I N D V I E W . N E T /B O O K S /TIJ/ H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / J 2 S E /1.5.0/ D O C S / I N D E X . H T M L H T T P :// W W W . Z E U S E D I T . C O M / F O R U M / V I E W T O P I C . P H P ? T =10 H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / J 2 S E /1.5.0/ D O C S / A P I / I N D E X . H T M L H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / D O C S / B O O K S / T U T O R I A L / I N D E X . H T M L H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / D E V E L O P E R / O N L I N E T R A I N I N G / N E W 2 J A V A / I N D E X . H T M L H T T P :// W W W . A L N A J A 7. N E T /P R O G R A M M E R /393/ITCS-393. H T M H T T P :// C U R M U D G E O N 99. G O O G L E P A G E S . C O M / H T T P :// J A V A L E S S O N S . C O M H T T P :// W W W . K I D W A R E S O F T W A R E . C O M H T T P :// W W W . C E R T I F I C A T I O N 4 C A R E E R . C O M H T T P :// W W W . S W I N G W I K I . O R G H T T P :// W W W . A K K I D I . C O M H T T P :// W W W . F R E E B O O K C E N T R E . N E T /J A V A T E C H / J A V A C A T E G O R Y . H T M L
177
Links
F REE JAVA AND J2EE E B OOKS17 JAVA BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOADS18 ROEDY G REEN S JAVA & I NTERNET G LOSSARY19 A comprehensive reference thats also an excellent starting point for beginners C2: JAVA L ANGUAGE20 N ET B EANS IDE21 E CLIPSE IDE22 Z EUS FOR W INDOWS IDE23 O FFICIAL JAVA H OME S ITE24 O RIGINAL JAVA W HITEPAPER25 C OMPLETE JAVA P ROGRAMMING T UTORIALS26 JAVAPASSION , JAVA COURSE27 - The Javapassion Site, Java Course, driven by Sang Shin from Sun BEANSHELL28 Interpreted version T HE JAVA L ANGUAGE S PECIFICATION , T HIRD E DITION29 "This book attempts a complete specication of the syntax and semantics of the language." T HE JAVA V IRTUAL M ACHINE S PECIFICATION , S ECOND E DITION30 and AMENDMENTS31 A PURE JAVA DESKTOP32 JAVAPEDIA PROJECT33 Bruce Eckel Thinking in Java Third edition -- HTTP :// WWW. MINDVIEW. NET /B OOKS /TIJ/34 (Bruce has an C/C++ free book available on-line too) JAVAG AME D EVELOPMENT35 Daily news and articles on Java Game Development JAVA C ERTIFICATIONS S ITE (SCJP,SCWCD,SCBCD,JAVA 5.0,SCEA36 JAVA P ROGRAMMING FAQ S AND T UTORIALS37 M ORE RESOURCES38 JAVA LESSONS39 O NLINE JAVA T UTORIAL40
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
H T T P :// W W W . B E S T E B O O K S W O R L D . C O M / D E F A U L T . A S P ? C A T =55 H T T P :// W W W . T E C H B O O K S F O R F R E E . C O M / J A V A . S H T M L H T T P :// W W W . M I N D P R O D . C O M / J G L O S S / J G L O S S . H T M L H T T P :// C 2. C O M / C G I / W I K I ?J A V A L A N G U A G E H T T P :// W W W . N E T B E A N S . O R G H T T P :// W W W . E C L I P S E . O R G H T T P :// W W W . Z E U S E D I T . C O M / J A V A . H T M L H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / D O C S / W H I T E / L A N G E N V / H T T P :// W W W . R O S E I N D I A . N E T / J A V A / H T T P :// W W W . J A V A P A S S I O N . C O M / J A V A I N T R O / H T T P :// W W W . B E A N S H E L L . O R G H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / D O C S / B O O K S / J L S / T H I R D _ E D I T I O N / H T M L / J 3TOC. H T M L H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / D O C S / B O O K S / V M S P E C /2 N D - E D I T I O N / H T M L /VMS P E C TOC. D O C . H T M L H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / D O C S / B O O K S / V M S P E C /2 N D - E D I T I O N / J V M S - C L A R I F Y . H T M L H T T P :// W W W . J D I S T R O . C O M / H T T P :// W I K I . J A V A . N E T / B I N / V I E W /J A V A P E D I A / H T T P :// W W W . M I N D V I E W . N E T /B O O K S /TIJ/ H T T P :// J A V A G A M E D E V E L O P M E N T . N E T H T T P :// W W W . J A V A B E A T . N E T H T T P :// W W W . A P L . J H U . E D U /~{} H A L L / J A V A /FAQ S - A N D -T U T O R I A L S . H T M L H T T P :// F I N D S H E L L . C O M H T T P :// W W W . L A N D O F C O D E . C O M / J A V A / H T T P :// C O M P U T E R . F R E E O N L I N E B O O K S T O R E . O R G /S H O W B O O K . P H P ? S U B C A T E G O R Y I D =17
178
External links
F ULL JAVA T UTORIAL41 - A collection of free premium programming tutorials JAVA C ERTIFICATION P RACTICE T ESTS AND A RTICLES42 KODE JAVA - L EARN JAVA P ROGRAMMING BY E XAMPLES43 G AMES P ROGRAMMING W IKI44 - Java tutorials and lessons based on game programming W IKI JAVA45 - Examples and tutorials in Java D OWNLOAD F REE JAVA EBOOKS FROM 83 EBOOKS COLLECTION46 - Free Java Ebooks to download from ebookslab.info D OWNLOAD F REE S UN C ERTIFIED D EVELOPER FOR JAVA W EB S ERVICES47 - Free Java Ebooks to download from ebooks.mzwriter.net C ODE C ONVENTIONS FOR THE JAVA P ROGRAMMING L ANGUAGE48 - At SUN Newsgroups: news:comp.lang.java comp.lang.java ( G OOGLE S WEB INTERFACE49 ) L INKS50
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
H T T P :// W W W . M E S H P L E X . O R G / W I K I /J A V A /I N T R O D U C T I O N _ T O _J A V A H T T P :// W W W . U C E R T I F Y . C O M / V E N D O R S /S U N . H T M L H T T P :// W W W . K O D E J A V A . O R G / H T T P :// G P W I K I . O R G / H T T P :// W W W . W I K I J A V A . O R G / H T T P :// W W W . E B O O K S L A B . I N F O / D O W N L O A D - F R E E - J A V A - E B O O K S H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / D O C S / C O D E C O N V / H T M L /C O D E C O N V TOC. D O C . H T M L H T T P :// G R O U P S . G O O G L E . C O M / G R O U P S ? G R O U P = C O M P . L A N G . J A V A H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /C A T E G O R Y %3AJ A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G
H T T P :// E B O O K S . M Z W R I T E R . N E T / E - B O O K S / S H A R E _ E B O O K -310-220- S U N - C E R T I F I E D - D E V E L O P E R - F O R - J A V A - W E B - S
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Links
180
33 License
181
License
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34 GNU Free Documentation License

1. REDIRECT W IKIBOOKS :GNU F REE D OCUMENTATION L ICENSE1
DE :JAVA 2
D EUTSCH J.SE3
1 2 3
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /GNU%20F R E E %20D O C U M E N T A T I O N %20L I C E N S E H T T P :// D E . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A H T T P :// D E . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20S T A N D A R D
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35 Authors
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
User A D R ILEY1 A DRIGNOLA2 A LAINR 3453 A LBMONT4 A LEXANDER . ORLOV5 A NTIDRUGUE6 A PHONIK7 A RSENALFAN8 A RUNREGINALD9 A SHMAILIT10 A Z 156811 B ENO 100012 C ECLAUSON13 C OLFULUS14 C OLINDAVEN15 C SPURRIER16 DALLAS 127817 DAN P OLANSKY18 DARKLAMA19 DARKXXXXILLUSION20 DAVID C ARY21
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :A D R I L E Y H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :A D R I G N O L A H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :A L A I N R 345 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :A L B M O N T H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :A L E X A N D E R . O R L O V H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :A N T I D R U G U E H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :A P H O N I K H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :A R S E N A L F A N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :A R U N R E G I N A L D H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :A S H M A I L I T H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :A Z 1568 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :B E N O 1000 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :C E C L A U S O N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :C O L F U L U S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :C O L I N D A V E N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :C S P U R R I E R H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :D A L L A S 1278 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :D A N _P O L A N S K Y H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :D A R K L A M A H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :D A R K X X X X I L L U S I O N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :D A V I D C A R Y
185
Authors
1 1 5 3 79 1 1 646 3 3 3 3 1 1 2 4 2 2 1 1 5 1 1 1 1
D EVOURER 0922 D ICKDICKDICK23 D IRK H NNIGER24 D IRK GENTLY25 D JB26 D MONEGO27 D RAWDE 8328 E RVINN29 E XABYTE30 E XPLANATOR31 F ELIPEOCHOA 091832 F ISHPI33 F KEREKI34 F LATIPAC35 F REDMARANHAO36 F TIERCEL37 G O LL OX P38 G ROKUS39 G RUNNY40 G UANACO41 G UANGPU . HUANG42 HMP ERSON 143 H AGINDAZ44 H ERMIONE 198045 H ROULF46
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :D E V O U R E R 09 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :D I C K D I C K D I C K H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :D I R K _H%C3%BC N N I G E R H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :D I R K _ G E N T L Y H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :D J B H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :D M O N E G O H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :D R A W D E 83 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :E R V I N N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :E X A B Y T E H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :E X P L A N A T O R H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :F E L I P E O C H O A 0918 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :F I S H P I H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :F K E R E K I H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :F L A T I P A C H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :F R E D M A R A N H A O H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :F T I E R C E L H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :G O LL O X P H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :G R O K U S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :G R U N N Y H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :G U A N A C O H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :G U A N G P U . H U A N G H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :HMP E R S O N 1 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :H A G I N D A Z H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :H E R M I O N E 1980 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :H R O %C3%B0 U L F
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External links
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IM AC W IN 9547 I TSBORIN48 J36 MILES49 J GUK50 J IMMYATIC51 J K 3352 J OMEGAT53 J ONATHAN W EBLEY54 J PKOTTA55 K EJIA56 K ENJ 041857 K RIAK58 L CAWTE59 M ALFIST60 M ATRIX F ROG61 M ATTYLAWS62 M AX B OWSHER63 M ETA B OHEMIAN64 M HAYES65 M IKM66 M S 2 GER67 M STENTA68 O MZIG 8969 PANIC 2 K 470 P ENGO71
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H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :IM A C W I N 95 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :I T S B O R I N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :J36 M I L E S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :J G U K H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :J I M M Y A T I C H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :J K 33 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :J O M E G A T H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :J O N A T H A N _W E B L E Y H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :J P K O T T A H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :K E J I A H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :K E N J 0418 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :K R I A K H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :L C A W T E H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :M A L F I S T H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :M A T R I X F R O G H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :M A T T Y L A W S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :M A X B O W S H E R H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :M E T A B O H E M I A N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :M H A Y E S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :M I K M H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :M S 2 G E R H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :M S T E N T A H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :O M Z I G 89 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :P A N I C 2 K 4 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :P E N G O
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Authors
2 12 3 1 7 1 3 10 3 5 1 1 65 8 16 1 4 3 7 1 2 1 1 2 2
P ITEL72 P RODOC73 Q UITE U NUSUAL74 R ALPHCOOK75 R APPO76 R AVICHANDAR 8477 R ECENT RUNES78 R ICKY CLARKSON79 SBJ OHNNY80 S AMWILSON81 S EANJA82 S HAHIDSIDD83 S IGMA 784 S PONGEBOB 8885 S POON !86 S TEPHANVANINGEN87 S UNDAR 22 IN88 S UNNYCHAN89 S UPERFLY J ON90 S WIFT91 TANMINIVAN92 TAROSE . TREVOR93 T HE DAVE ROSS94 T HEPHILWELLS95 UNV96
72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :P I T E L H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :P R O D O C H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :Q U I T E U N U S U A L H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :R A L P H C O O K H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :R A P P O H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :R A V I C H A N D A R 84 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :R E C E N T _R U N E S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :R I C K Y _ C L A R K S O N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :SBJ O H N N Y H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :S A M W I L S O N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :S E A N J A H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :S H A H I D S I D D H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :S I G M A _7 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :S P O N G E B O B 88 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :S P O O N %21 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :S T E P H A N V A N I N G E N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :S U N D A R 22 I N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :S U N N Y C H A N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :S U P E R F L Y _J O N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :S W I F T H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :T A N M I N I V A N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :T A R O S E . T R E V O R H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :T H E D A V E R O S S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :T H E P H I L W E L L S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :UNV
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V INAY H97 W EBAWARE98 W HITEKNIGHT99 W IKI W IZARD100 W IKIALT101 W ILLEM S OUWER102 W ISE E YES103 W UR - DENE104 W UTZOFANT105 YMS106 Y UUKI M AYUKI107 Z ERO O NE108
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H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :V I N A Y _ H H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :W E B A W A R E H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :W H I T E K N I G H T H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :W I K I W I Z A R D H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :W I K I A L T H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :W I L L E M _S O U W E R H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :W I S E E Y E S H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :W U R - D E N E H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :W U T Z O F A N T H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :YMS H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :Y U U K I _M A Y U K I H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :Z E R O O N E H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? T I T L E =U S E R :%E7%A0%B2%E7%81%AB_%E4%B8%87% E7%89%A9%E3%81%AE%E9%9C%8A%E9%95%B7
189
Authors
190
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P ETER C AMPBELL110 U SER :A RUNREGINALD111 U SER :A RUNREGINALD112 U SER :A RUNREGINALD113
GFDL GFDL
A RUN R EGINALD114 A RUN R EGINALD115 Original version created by B :U SER :E RVINN116 , SVG version created by MYSELF117 Original version created by B :U SER :E RVINN118 , SVG version created by MYSELF119
GFDL GFDL cc-by-sa-2.5 cc-by-sa-2.5
110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119
H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /U S E R %3AP E T E R %20C A M P B E L L H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /U S E R %3AA R U N R E G I N A L D H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /U S E R %3AA R U N R E G I N A L D H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /U S E R %3AA R U N R E G I N A L D H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /U S E R %3AA R U N R E G I N A L D H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /U S E R %3AA R U N R E G I N A L D H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /U S E R %3AE R V I N N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /U S E R %3AM I K M H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /U S E R %3AE R V I N N H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /U S E R %3AM I K M
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Java Programming/Print version

March 24, 2011.

13 PACKAGES 13.1 J AVA PACKAGE / N AME S PACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2 W ILDCARD IMPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I MPORTING PACKAGES FROM . JAR FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C LASS L OADING / N AME S PACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

JAVA . LANG .S TRING

19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 19.6 19.7

JAVA . LANG .S TRING

21 D ATA AND VARIABLES 115 21.1 S TRONG T YPING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

1 About This Book

1.1 Who Should Read This Book

About This Book

1.2 How this book is evolving

UNKNOWN TEMPLATE "cite web" 9 10 11

UNKNOWN TEMPLATE "cite web"

2.1 The Green team

2.2 Reshaping thought

H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I / E M B E D D E D %20 S Y S T E M H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /M E S A %20%28 P R O G R A M M I N G %20 L A N G U A G E %29 H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /J A M E S %20G O S L I N G

The demise of an idea, birth of another

Wayne Rosing Eric Schmidt

2.3 The demise of an idea, birth of another

2.4 Recent history

2.5.1 Initial Release (versions 1.0 and 1.1)

2.5.2 Java 2 (version 1.2)

2.5.3 Kestrel (Java 1.3) 2.5.4 Merlin (Java 1.4)

2.5.5 Tiger (version 1.5.0; Java SE 5)

H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FP R I M I T I V E %20T Y P E S % 23A U T O B O X I N G %2F U N B O X I N G 32 H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /J A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G %2FA N N O T A T I O N

Chapter 22 on page 119

2.5.6 Mustang (version 1.6.0; Java SE 6)

UNKNOWN TEMPLATE "cite web"

2.5.7 Dolphin (version 1.7.0; Java SE 7)

H T T P :// E N . W I K I B O O K S . O R G / W I K I /C A T E G O R Y %3AJ A V A %20P R O G R A M M I N G

3 The Java Platform

3.1 Java technologies

The Java Platform

3.2 Java Runtime Environment

3.2.1 Java Virtual Machine

3.2.2 Class libraries

Another option is to use a more interface approach like the J YTHON25 .

3.4 Similar Platforms

The Java Platform

4 Java Programming Environment

4.1 The Java Compiler

you can compile it by entering the following command in a command shell:

H T T P :// J A V A . S U N . C O M / H T T P :// W W W . N E T B E A N S . O R G H T T P :// W W W . E C L I P S E . O R G H T T P :// E N . W I K I P E D I A . O R G / W I K I /N O T E P A D

Java Programming Environment

name.jar le to distribute to run in any hardware.

4.1.1 The bytecode

4.1.2 The JIT compiler

The Java Runtime Environment

4.2 The Java Runtime Environment

4.2.1 Main entry point

4.2.2 Executing a command-line Java program

Chapter 13 on page 79 Chapter 13 on page 79

Java Programming Environment

4.2.3 Executing a Graphical User Interface Java program

4.3 Other JDK tools

4.3.1 The apt tool

Other JDK tools

4.3.2 The appletviewer tool