JAVA – BASIC SYNTAX

BASIC TERMS

When we consider a Java program it can be defined as a collection of objects that communicate via invoking each
other's methods. Let us now briefly look into what do class, object, methods and instance variables mean. In more
deep it will be explained later.

OBJECT

Objects have states and behaviors. Example: A dog has states ‐ color, name, breed as well as behaviors ‐
wagging, barking, eating. An object is an instance of a class.

CLASS

A class can be defined as a template/ blue print that describes the behaviors/states that object of its type
support.

METHODS

A method is basically a behavior. A class can contain many methods. It is in methods where the logics are
written, data is manipulated and all the actions are executed.

INSTANCE VARIABLES

Each object has its unique set of instance variables. An object's state is created by the values assigned to these
instance variables.

BASIC SYNTAX

CASE SENSITIVITY

Java is case sensitive, which means that identifier Hello and hello would have different meaning in Java.

CLASS NAMES

By convence, for all class names the first letter should be in Upper Case. If several words are used to form a
name of the class, each inner word's first letter should be in Upper Case.

Example: class MyFirstJavaClass

METHOD NAMES

All method names should by convence start with a Lower Case letter. If several words are used to form the
name of the method, then each inner word's first letter should be in Upper Case.
Example: public void myMethodName()

PROGRAM FILE NAME

Name of the program file should exactly match the class name.

When saving the file, you should save it using the class name (Remember: Java is case sensitive!) and append
'.java' to the end of the name. If the file name and the class name do not match, your program will not
compile!

Example : assume 'MyFirstJavaProgram' is the class name. Then the file should be saved as
'MyFirstJavaProgram.java'

public static void main(string args[])

Java program processing starts from the main() method which is a mandatory part of every Java program.

JAVA IDENTIFIERS

All Java components require names. Names used for classes, variables and methods are called identifiers.

In Java, there are several points to remember about identifiers. They are as follows:

A..Z, a..z, $ and _

All identifiers should begin with a letter (A to Z or a to z), currency character ($) or an underscore (_).

After the first character identifiers can have any combination of characters.

A key word cannot be used as an identifier.

Most importantly: identifiers are case sensitive.

EXAMPLES OF LEGAL IDENTIFIERS

age, $salary, _value, __1_value

EXAMPLES OF ILLEGAL IDENTIFIERS

123abc, ‐salary

JAVA MODIFIERS

Modifiers are used to change, modify interpretation of identifiers. Modifiers are often used to refine their
meaning.

We will be looking into more details about modifiers in the further section.

Like other languages, it is possible to modify classes, methods, etc., by using modifiers. There are two
categories of modifiers:

ACCESS MODIFIERS
default, public , protected, private

NON‐ACCESS MODIFIERS

final, abstract, strictfp

JAVA VARIABLES

We would see following type of variables in Java:

 Local Variables

 Class Variables (Static Variables)

 Instance Variables (Non‐static variables)

JAVA ARRAYS

Arrays are objects that store multiple variables of the same type. However, an array itself is an object on the
heap. We will look into how to declare, construct and initialize in the upcoming chapters.

JAVA ENUMS

Enums were introduced in java 5.0. Enums restrict a variable to have one of only a few predefined values. The
values in this enumerated list are called enums.

With the use of enums it is possible to reduce the number of bugs in your code.

EXAMPLE

For example, if we consider an application for a fresh juice shop, it would be possible to restrict the glass size to
small, medium and large. This would make sure that it would not allow anyone to order any size other than the
small, medium or large.

class FreshJuice {

enum FreshJuiceSize{ SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE }

FreshJuiceSize size;
}

public class FreshJuiceTest {

public static void main(String args[]){

FreshJuice juice = new FreshJuice();
juice.size = FreshJuice. FreshJuiceSize.MEDIUM ;
System.out.println("Size: " + juice.size);
}
}

Above example will produce the following result:

Size: MEDIUM
NOTE

Enums can be declared as their own or inside a class. Methods, variables, constructors can be defined inside
enums as well.

JAVA KEYWORDS

The following list shows the reserved words in Java. These reserved words may not be used as constant or
variable or any other identifier names.

abstract assert boolean break

byte case catch char

class const continue default

do double else enum

extends final finally float

for goto if implements

import instanceof int interface

long native new package

private protected public return

short static strictfp super

switch synchronized this throw

throws transient try void

volatile while

COMMENTS IN JAVA

Java supports single‐line and multi‐line comments very similar to c and c++. All characters available inside any
comment are ignored by Java compiler.

public class MyFirstJavaProgram{

/* This is my first java program.

* This will print 'Hello World' as the output
* This is an example of multi-line comments.
*/
 public static void main(String []args){
// This is an example of single line comment
/* This is also an example of single line comment. */
System.out.println("Hello World");
}
}

DOCUMENTARY AND NON‐DOCUMENTARY COMMENTS

In Java, there are two types of comments.

Standard comments mean comments, similar to other programming languages.

The basic structure of writing document comments is to embed them inside /** ... */. The Javadoc is written
next to the items without any separating newline. The class declaration usually contains:

/**
* @author Firstname Lastname <address @ example.com>
* @version 1.6 (current version number of program)
* @since 2010-03-31 (the version of the package this
class was first added to)
*/
public class Test {
// class body
}

USING BLANK LINES

A line containing only whitespace, possibly with a comment, is known as a blank line, and Java totally ignores it.

INHERITANCE

In Java, classes can be derived from classes. Basically if you need to create a new class and here is already a
class that has some of the code you require, then it is possible to derive your new class from the already
existing code.

This concept allows you to reuse the fields and methods of the existing class without having to rewrite the code
in a new class. In this scenario the existing class is called the superclass and the derived class is called the
subclass.

INTERFACES

In Java language, an interface can be defined as a contract between objects on how to communicate with each
other. Interfaces play a vital role when it comes to the concept of inheritance.

An interface defines the methods, a deriving class(subclass) should use. But the implementation of the
methods is totally up to the subclass.