4/28/2018 5 Different Ways to Create Objects in Java - DZone Java

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5 Different Ways to Create Objects in

Java
by Naresh Joshi  · Jul. 12, 16 · Java Zone · Opinion

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Being Java developers, we usually create lots of objects daily, but we always use dependency management
systems e.g. Spring to create these objects. However, there are more ways to create objects, which we will
study in this article.

There are five total ways to create objects in Java, which are explained below with their examples
followed by bytecode of the line which is creating the object.

Using new keyword } → constructor gets called

Using newInstance() method of Class class } → constructor gets called

Using newInstance() method of Constructor class } → constructor gets called

Using clone() method } → no constructor call

Using deserialization } → no constructor call

If you will execute program given in end, you will see method 1, 2, 3 uses the constructor to create the
object while 4, 5 doesn’t call the constructor to create the object.

1. Using new keywords

It is the most common and regular way to create an object and a very simple one also. By using this
method we can call whichever constructor we want to call (no-arg constructor as well as parameterized).

1 Employee emp1 = new Employee();

1 0: new #19 // class org/programming/mitra/exercises/Employee

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2 3: dup

3 4: invokespecial #21 // Method org/programming/mitra/exercises/Employee."":()V

2. Using newInstance() method of Class class

We can also use the newInstance() method of a Class class to create an object. This newInstance()
method calls the no-arg constructor to create the object.

We can create an object by newInstance() in the following way:

Employee emp2 = (Employee) Class.forName("org.programming.mitra.exercises.Employee").newInsta

1

Or

1 Employee emp2 = Employee.class.newInstance();

1 51: invokevirtual #70 // Method java/lang/Class.newInstance:()Ljava/lang/Object;

4. Using newInstance() method of Constructor class

Similar to the newInstance() method of Class class, There is one newInstance() method in
the java.lang.reflect.Constructor class which we can use to create objects. We can also call parameterized
constructor, and private constructor by using this newInstance() method.

1 Constructor<Employee> constructor = Employee.class.getConstructor();

2 Employee emp3 = constructor.newInstance();

111: invokevirtual #80 // Method java/lang/reflect/Constructor.newInstance:([Ljava/lang/Obj
1

Both newInstance() methods are known as reflective ways to create objects. In fact newInstance() method
of Class class internally uses newInstance() method of Constructor class. That's why the later one is
preferred and also used by different frameworks like Spring, Hibernate, Struts etc. To know differences
between both newInstance() methods read Creating objects through Reflection in Java with Example.

4. Using clone() method:

Whenever we call clone() on any object, the JVM actually creates a new object for us and copies all
content of the previous object into it. Creating an object using the clone method does not invoke any
constructor.

To use clone() method on an object we need to implement Cloneable and define the clone() method in it.

1 Employee emp4 = (Employee) emp3.clone();

162: invokevirtual #87 // Method org/programming/mitra/exercises/Employee.clone ()Ljava/lang

1

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Java cloning is the most debatable topic in Java community and it surely does have its drawbacks but it is
still the most popular and easy way of creating a copy of any object until that object is full filling
mandatory conditions of Java cloning. I have covered cloning in details in a 3 article long Java Cloning
Series which includes (Java Cloning And Types Of Cloning (Shallow And Deep) In Details With Example,
Java Cloning - Copy Constructor Versus Cloning, Java Cloning - Even Copy Constructors Are Not
Sufficient), go ahead and read them if you want to know more about cloning.

5. Using deserialization:
Whenever we serialize and deserialize an object, the JVM creates a separate object for us. In
deserialization, the JVM doesn’t use any constructor to create the object.

To deserialize an object we need to implement a Serializable interface in our class.

1 ObjectInputStream in = new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream("data.obj"));

2 Employee emp5 = (Employee) in.readObject();

261: invokevirtual #118 // Method java/io/ObjectInputStream.readObject:()Ljava/lang/Object
1

As we can see in the above bytecode snippets, all 4 methods are called and get converted
to invokevirtual (object creation is directly handled by these methods) except the first one, which got
converted to two calls: one is new and other is invokespecial (call to constructor).

Example
Let’s consider an Employee class for which we are going to create the objects:

1 class Employee implements Cloneable, Serializable {

2
3 private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

4
5 private String name;

6
7 public Employee() {

8 System.out.println("Employee Constructor Called...");

9 }

10
11 public String getName() {

12 return name;

13 }

14
15 public void setName(String name) {

16 this.name = name;
}
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17 }

18
19 @Override

20 public int hashCode() {

21 final int prime = 31;

22 int result = 1;

23 result = prime * result + ((name == null) ? 0 : name.hashCode());

24 return result;

25 }

26
27 @Override

28 public boolean equals(Object obj) {

29 if (this == obj)

30 return true;

31 if (obj == null)

32 return false;

33 if (getClass() != obj.getClass())

34 return false;

35 Employee other = (Employee) obj;

36 if (name == null) {

37 if (other.name != null)

38 return false;

39 } else if (!name.equals(other.name))

40 return false;

41 return true;

42 }

43
44 @Override

45 public String toString() {

46 return "Employee [name=" + name + "]";

47 }

48
49 @Override

50 public Object clone() {

51
52 Object obj = null;

53 try {

54 obj = super.clone();

55 } catch (CloneNotSupportedException e) {

56 e.printStackTrace();

57 }

58 return obj;

59 }

60 }
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In the below Java program we are going to create Employee objects in all 5 ways. You can also find the
source code at GitHub.

1 public class ObjectCreation {

2 public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {

3
4 // By using new keyword

5 Employee emp1 = new Employee();

6 emp1.setName("Naresh");

7
8 System.out.println(emp1 + ", hashcode : " + emp1.hashCode());

9
10 ×
11 // By using Class The Guide
class's to Java:
newInstance() method Development and Evolution
The Best Class.forName("org.programming.mitra.exercises.Employee")
Employee emp2 = (Employee) GoF Design Patterns for Microservices: Strategy, Façade & More
12 Benefits of Using the Future API in Kotlin
13 .newInstance();
Multi-Release JAR Files, Jigsaw Capabilities, and the jlink Tool in Java 9
14
15 // Or we can simply do this

16 // Employee emp2 = Employee.class.newInstance();

Download My Free PDF
17
18 emp2.setName("Rishi");

19
20 System.out.println(emp2 + ", hashcode : " + emp2.hashCode());

21
22
23 // By using Constructor class's newInstance() method

24 Constructor<Employee> constructor = Employee.class.getConstructor();

25 Employee emp3 = constructor.newInstance();

26 emp3.setName("Yogesh");

27
28 System.out.println(emp3 + ", hashcode : " + emp3.hashCode());

29
30 // By using clone() method

31 Employee emp4 = (Employee) emp3.clone();

32 emp4.setName("Atul");

33
34 System.out.println(emp4 + ", hashcode : " + emp4.hashCode());

35
36
37 // By using Deserialization

38
39 // Serialization
ObjectOutputStream out = new ObjectOutputStream(new FileOutputStream("data.obj"));
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ObjectOutputSt ea out e ObjectOutputSt ea ( e eOutputSt ea ( data.obj ));
40
41
42 out.writeObject(emp4);

43 out.close();

44
45 //Deserialization

46 ObjectInputStream in = new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream("data.obj"));

47 Employee emp5 = (Employee) in.readObject();

48 in.close();

49
50 emp5.setName("Akash");

51 System.out.println(emp5 + ", hashcode : " + emp5.hashCode());

52
53 }

54 }

This program will give the following output:

1 Employee Constructor Called...

2 Employee [name=Naresh], hashcode : -1968815046

3 Employee Constructor Called...

4 Employee [name=Rishi], hashcode : 78970652

5 Employee Constructor Called...

6 Employee [name=Yogesh], hashcode : -1641292792

7 Employee [name=Atul], hashcode : 2051657

8 Employee [name=Akash], hashcode : 63313419

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Topics: JAVA , CORE JAVA , REFLECTION API

Published at DZone with permission of Naresh Joshi , DZone MVB. See the original article here. 
Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

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