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Classes Encapsulation

The document discusses classes in Java. It defines a class as a template that contains data variables and methods that operate on those variables. It provides an example class called ClassRoom that encapsulates data like room number and total seats within private fields. It explains how to create objects from a class using the new keyword, which allocates memory and initializes the object. Reference variables hold the address of created objects. The document contrasts static and instance variables, noting that non-static fields can differ across object instances.

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48 views

Classes Encapsulation

The document discusses classes in Java. It defines a class as a template that contains data variables and methods that operate on those variables. It provides an example class called ClassRoom that encapsulates data like room number and total seats within private fields. It explains how to create objects from a class using the new keyword, which allocates memory and initializes the object. Reference variables hold the address of created objects. The document contrasts static and instance variables, noting that non-static fields can differ across object instances.

Uploaded by

Anam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Classes

 in  Java  

SZABIST  Islamabad  
Agenda  
•  What  are  classes?  
•  Class  is  a  unit  of  code  in  java  
•  Class  Syntax  
•  Access  Modifiers  
•  An  Encapsulated  Example  
•  CreaEng  Objects  
•  The  use  of  new  keyword  
•  Reference  Variable  hold  address  of  the  created  object  
•  EncapsulaEon/Data  hiding  
•  Inside  and  outside  of  a  class  
What are Classes

•  A class is a template that contains


§  the data variables
§  the methods that operate on those data variables
(following some logic)

§  The class is the foundation on which the entire Java


language is built.

§  All the programming activity happens inside classes.

§  Next we explore:


§  writing classes
§  creating objects from classes (Inheritance)
Unit  of  Code  in  Java  
•  Class  is  the  minimalist  possible  program  you  
can  write  in  java,  below  is  your  first  program  
class HelloWorld {
public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println(”HelloWorld!");
}
}

•  class keyword and class name


•  main method – entry point to program
•  argument list passed into program
•  command to print out a message to the screen
Class Syntax

§  A class is declared by using the keyword class. The


general syntax for a class declaration is

<modifier> class <className> { }

§  <className> specifies the name of the class,

§  class is the keyword

§  <modifier> specifies some characteristics of the class.

§  The <modifier> specification is optional

§  The class keyword and <className> are


mandatory.
Access Modifers

•  Modifiers can be broadly grouped into the following two categories:

•  Access modifiers determine from where the class can be


accessed:
•  e.g. private, protected, and public
•  If you do not specify an access modifier, the default access
is assumed.

•  Other modifiers specify how the class can be used:


•  e.g. abstract, final, and strictfp

Some Examples:
class MyClass { }

abstract class MyClass { }

final public class MyClass{}


An Encapsulated Example
The class code that contains the class members is written inside two curly braces
You will see slides on why we call it encapsulation
Example: ClassRoom.java

1. class ClassRoom {
2. private String roomNumber;
3. private int totalSeats = 60;
4. private static int totalRooms = 0;
5. void setRoomNumber(String rn) {
6. roomNumber = rn;
7. }
8. String getRoomNumber() {
9. return roomNumber;
10.}
11.void setTotalSeats(int seats) {
12. totalSeats = seats;
13.}
14. int getTotalSeats() {
15. return totalSeats;
16. }
17. }
Creating Objects: Syntax
§  Classes can be considered as data types

§  e.g. You can declare a variable as a primitive data type and assign it a value, as
follows: int i=0;

§  Similarly, you can declare a variable (a reference variable) of a class and assign
it a value with the following syntax:

<className> <variableName> = new <classConstructor>;

§  <variableName> is the name of the object reference: it will refer to the object (on
Heap) that you want to create

§  <className> is the name of an existing class

§  <classConstructor> is a constructor of the class.

§  The right side of the statement creates the object of the class specified by
<className> with the new operator

§  The object is assigns it to <variableName> (i.e. <variableName> points to it)

§  Creating an object from a class this way is also called instantiating the class.
Creating Objects:Example

For example:

class ClassRoomManager {
public static void main(String[] args)‫‏‬
{
ClassRoom room1 = new ClassRoom();//create an object
room1.setRoomNumber("MH227");// call a setter
room2.setTotalSeats(30);

System.out.println("Room number:”+ room1.getRoomNumber());


System.out.println("Total seats:”+ room1.getTotalSeats());
// calling getter methods
}
}

Output:
Room number: MH227
Total seats: 30
The use of new Keyword

§  The object is created in the following line of code:

ClassRoom roomOne = new ClassRoom();

§  What happens:

1.  The left side declares a reference variable roomOne of class


ClassRoom

2.  The right side creates an object of class ClassRoom with the
operator new

3. The assignment operator = assigns the newly created object


to the reference variable roomOne
Reference Variable
•  Note that the variable roomOne does not hold the object

§  It is a reference to the object (living on the heap)

§  It is called a reference variable, or object reference.

§  However, for brevity, the object references sometimes are also called
objects
Summary Classes and Objects

To summarize :

§  We instantiated the class ClassRoom inside another class called


ClassRoomManager

§  We declared an object reference roomOne that points to the newly created object

§  We invoked methods on the object roomOne (the object reference), which is of type
ClassRoom

§  Instantiating a class and invoking its methods is called accessing a class (or object)
and its methods.

§  The new operator creates the object dynamically, which means that it creates it at
runtime, not at compile time.

§  When the Java runtime system executes the statement with the new operator, it :
§  allocates memory for the instance (object) of class ClassRoom
§  and calls the constructor ClassRoom()‫ ‏‬to initialize this memory

§  Note: The terms instance and object are often used interchangeably
Static and Instance Variables/Fields

§  It is possible to create more than one instance of a class.

§  Each instance has its own copy of the nonstatic variables of the
class (but all instances share the static variables of the class).

§  For this reason, the nonstatic data members of a class are also
called instance variables

§  Changing the value of an instance variable in one object of a


class does not change the value of the same variable in another
object of the same class.

§  But if you change the value of a static variable of the class in one
object, the change will be visible from all the objects.
The Problem

Public class Car{



public String carName= “figo”;

public String color=“red”;

public void testEngineEfficiency(){
}
public void automaticBreakSystem(){
}
} taken from http://learn-java-with-comics.blogspot.com
Solution: Encapsulation

Public class Car{



public String carName= “figo”;

private String color=“red”;

public void testEngineEfficiency(){
}
public void automaticBreakSystem(){
}
} taken from http://learn-java-with-comics.blogspot.com
Data Hiding

Public class Car{



public String carName= “figo”;

private String color=“red”;

public void testEngineEfficiency(){
}
public void automaticBreakSystem(){
}
} taken from http://learn-java-with-comics.blogspot.com
Inside and Outside
Public class Person 
 {
// you are inside the person class

private int age;// always make fields private



public int getAge(){ // and methods public so thatthey can be called
return this.age;
}
public void setAge(int age){

this.age = age;
}
}
Public class Main{

// you are outside of the Person class

public static void main(String args[]){

Person me = new Person();
me.setAge(35);//since setAge is public we can call it from outside 

}
}

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