Objects and Classes in Java

1. Object in Java

2. Class in Java

3. Instance Variable in Java

4. Method in Java

5. Example of Object and class that maintains the records of student

An object in Java is the physical as well as a logical entity, whereas, a class in Java is a
logical entity only.

What is an object in Java

An entity that has state and behavior is known as an object e.g., chair, bike, marker, pen,
table, car, etc. It can be physical or logical (tangible and intangible). The example of an
intangible object is the banking system.

An object has three characteristics:

o State: represents the data (value) of an object.

o Behavior: represents the behavior (functionality) of an object such as deposit,
withdraw, etc.
o Identity: An object identity is typically implemented via a unique ID. The value of
the ID is not visible to the external user. However, it is used internally by the JVM
to identify each object uniquely.
For Example, Pen is an object. Its name is Reynolds; color is white, known as its state. It is
used to write, so writing is its behavior.

An object is an instance of a class. A class is a template or blueprint from which

objects are created. So, an object is the instance(result) of a class.

Object Definitions:

o An object is a real-world entity.

o An object is a runtime entity.
o The object is an entity which has state and behavior.
o The object is an instance of a class.
What is a class in Java
A class is a group of objects which have common properties. It is a template or blueprint
from which objects are created. It is a logical entity. It can't be physical.

A class in Java can contain:

o Fields
o Methods
o Constructors
o Blocks
o Nested class and interface
 Syntax to declare a class:

1. class <class_name>{
2. field;
3. method;
4. }
Instance variable in Java
A variable which is created inside the class but outside the method is known as an
instance variable. Instance variable doesn't get memory at compile time. It gets memory
at runtime when an object or instance is created. That is why it is known as an instance
variable.

Method in Java
A method is like a function which is used to expose the behavior of an object.

Advantage of Method

o Code Reusability
o Code Optimization

New keyword in Java

The new keyword is used to allocate memory at runtime. All objects get memory in
Heap memory area.

Object and Class Example:

We have created a Student class which has two data members id and name. We are
creating the object of the Student class by new keyword and printing the object's value.

Here, we are creating a main() method inside the class.

File: Student.java
1. //Java Program to illustrate how to define a class and fields
2. //Defining a Student class.
3. class Student{
4. int id=5;
5. String name="ramesh";
6. //creating main method inside the Student class
7. public static void main(String args[]) {
8. Student s1=new Student(); //creating an object of Student
9.
10. System.out.println(s1.id); //accessing member through reference variable
11. System.out.println(s1.name);
14. }
15. }
Test it Now

Output:

5
Ramesh

0
null

Ways to initialize object

There are 3 ways to initialize object in Java.

1. By reference variable
2. By method
3. By constructor

1) By reference variable
Initializing an object means storing data into the object. Let's see a simple example
where we are going to initialize the object through a reference variable
1. class Student{
2. int id;
3. String name;
5. public static void main(String args[]){
6. Student s1=new Student();
8. s1.id=101;
9. s1.name="Sonoo";
10. System.out.println(s1.id+" "+s1.name);//printing members with a white space
11. }
12. }
Test it Now

Output:

101 Sonoo

We can also create multiple objects and store information in it through reference
variable.

1. class Student{
2. int id;
3. String name;
4.
5. public static void main(String args[]){
6. //Creating objects
7. Student s1=new Student();
8. Student s2=new Student();
9. //Initializing objects
11. s1.id=101;
12. s1.name="Rojina";
13. s 2 . i d = 1 0 2 ;
14. s2.name="Amit";
15. //Printing data
16. System.out.println(s1.id+" "+s1.name);
17. System.out.println(s2.id+" "+s2.name);
18. }
19. }
Test it Now

Output:

101 Sonoo
102 Amit

2) Initialization through method

we are creating the two objects of Student class and initializing the value to these
objects by invoking the get method. Here, we are displaying the state (data) of the
objects by invoking the show() method.

1. class Student{
2. int rollno;
3. String name;
4. void get(int r, String n) {
5. rollno=r;
6. name=n;
7. }
8. void show()
{ System.out.println(rollno+" "+name); }

10. public static void main(String args[]){

11. Student s1=new Student();
12. Student s2=new Student();
13. s1.get(111,"Karan");
14. s2.get(222,"Aryan");
15. s1.show();
16. s2.show();
18. }
19. }
Test it Now

Output:

111 Karan
222 Aryan
 As you can see in the above figure, object gets the memory in heap memory area. The
reference variable refers to the object allocated in the heap memory area. Here, s1 and
s2 both are reference variables that refer to the objects allocated in memory.

3) Initialization through aconstructor

We will learn about constructors in Java later.

Object and Class Example: Employee

Let's see an example where we are maintaining records of employees.

File: TestEmployee.java

1. class Employee{
2. int id;
3. String name;
4. float salary;
5. void insert(int i, String n, float s) {
6. id=i;
name=n;
7. salary=s;
9. }
10. void display()
11. {System.out.println(id+" "+name+" "+salary);}
11. }
12. public static void main(String[] args) {
13. Employee e1=new Employee();
14. Employee e2=new Employee();
15. Employee e3=new Employee();
17. e1.insert(101,"ajeet",45000);
18. e2.insert(102,"irfan",25000);
19. e3.insert(103,"nakul",55000);
20. e1.display();
21. e2.display();
22. e3.display();
23. }
24. }
Test it Now

Output:

101 ajeet 45000.0

102 irfan 25000.0
103 nakul 55000.0

Object and Class Example: Rectangle

There is given another example that maintains the records of Rectangle class.

File: TestRectangle1.java

1. class Rectangle{
2. int length;
3. int width;
4. void insert (int l, int w){
5. length=l;
6. width=w;
7. }
8. void Area()
{System.out.println(length*width);}
10. public static void main(String args[]){
11. Rectangle r1=new Rectangle();
12. Rectangle r2=new Rectangle();
14. r1.insert(11,5);
15. r2.insert(3,15);
16. r1.Area();
17. r2.Area();
18. }
19. }
Test it Now

Output:

55
45
Anonymous object
Anonymous simply means nameless. An object which has no reference is known as an
anonymous object. It can be used at the time of object creation only.

If you have to use an object only once, an anonymous object is a good approach. For
example:

1. new Calculation();//anonymous object

Calling method through a reference:

1. Calculation c=new Calculation();
2. c.fact(5);

Calling method through an anonymous object

1. new Calculation().fact(5);

Let's see the full example of an anonymous object in Java.

1. class Calculation{
2. void fact(int n){
3. int fact=1;
4. for(int i=1;i<=n;i++){
5. fact=fact*i;
6. }
7. System.out.println("factorial is "+fact);
8. }
9. public static void main(String args[]){
10. new Calculation().fact(5);//calling method with anonymous object
11. }
12. }

Output:

Factorial is 120
 Creating multiple objects by one type only
We can create multiple objects by one type only as we do in case of primitives.

Initialization of primitive variables:

1. int a=10, b=20;

Initialization of refernce variables:

Rectangle r1=new Rectangle(),

r2=new Rectangle();//creating two objects Let's see the example:

1. //Java Program to illustrate the use of Rectangle class which

2. //has length and width data members
3. class Rectangle{
4. int length;
5. int width;
6. void insert(int l,int w){
7. length=l;
8. width=w;
9. }
10. void calculateArea()
{System.out.println(length*width);}
12. public static void main(String args[]){
13. Rectangle r1=new Rectangle(),r2=new Rectangle();//creating two objects
15. r1.insert(11,5);
16. r2.insert(3,15);
17. r1.calculateArea();
18. r2.calculateArea();
19. }
20. }
Test it Now

Output:

55
45

Real World Example: Account

1. //Java Program to demonstrate the working of a banking-system

2. //where we deposit and withdraw amount from our account.
3. //Creating an Account class which has deposit() and withdraw() methods
4. class Account{
5. int acc_no;
6. String name;
7. float amount;
8. //Method to initialize object
9. void insert(int a,String n,float amt){
10. acc_no=a;
11. name=n;
12. amount=amt;
13. }
14. //deposit method
15. void deposit(float amt){
16. amount=amount+amt;
17. System.out.println(amt+" deposited");
18. }
19. //withdraw method
20. void withdraw(float amt){
21. if(amount<amt){
22. System.out.println("Insufficient Balance");
23. }else{
24. amount=amount-amt;
25. System.out.println(amt+" withdrawn");
26. }
27. }
28. //method to check the balance of the account
29. void checkBalance()
30. {System.out.println("Balance is: "+amount);}
31. //method to display the values of an object
32. void display()
33. {System.out.println(acc_no+" "+name+" "+amount);}
32. }
33. //Creating a test class to deposit and withdraw amount
34. public static void main(String[] args){
35. Account a1=new Account();
37. a1.insert(832345,"Ankit",1000);
38. a1.display();
39. a1.checkBalance();
40. a1.deposit(40000);
41. a1.checkBalance();
42. a1.withdraw(15000);
43. a1.checkBalance();
44. }}
Test it Now

Output:

832345 Ankit 1000.0

Balance is: 1000.0
40000.0 deposited
Balance is: 41000.0
15000.0 withdrawn
Balance is: 26000.0