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Classes and Objects:
Review

 1992-2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Diana Haidar
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OBJECTIVES
In this chapter you will learn:
 What classes, objects, methods and instance variables
are.
 How to declare a class and use it to create an object.
 How to declare methods in a class to implement the
class’s behaviors.
 How to declare instance variables in a class to
implement the class’s attributes.
 How to call an object’s method to make that method
perform its task.
 The differences between instance variables of a class
and local variables of a method.
 How to use a constructor to ensure that an object’s
data is initialized when the object is created.
 The differences between primitive and reference types.

Diana Haidar
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3.1 Introduction
3.2 Classes, Objects, Methods and Instance Variables
3.3 Declaring a Class with a Method and Instantiating an
Object of a Class
3.5 Instance Variables, set Methods and get Methods
3.6 Primitive Types vs. Reference Types
3.7 Initializing Objects with Constructors
3.10 (Optional) Software Engineering Case Study: Identifying
the Classes in a Requirements Document

Diana Haidar
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3.1 Introduction

• Classes

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3.2 Classes, Objects, Methods and

Instance Variables

• Class provides one or more methods

• Method represents task in a program
– Describes the mechanisms that actually perform its
tasks
– Hides from its user the complex tasks that it
performs
– Method call tells method to perform its task

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3.2 Classes, Objects, Methods and

Instance Variables (Cont.)

• Classes contain one or more attributes

– Specified by instance variables
– Carried with the object as it is used

Diana Haidar
1 // Fig. 3.1: GradeBook.java 7
2 // Class declaration with one method. Outline
3
4 public class GradeBook
5 {
GradeBook.java
6 // display a welcome message to the GradeBook user
Print line of text to output
7 public void displayMessage()
8 {
9 System.out.println( "Welcome to the Grade Book!" );
10 } // end method displayMessage
11
12 } // end class GradeBook

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Class GradeBookTest

• Java is extensible
– Programmers can create new classes
• Class instance creation expression
– Keyword new
– Then name of class to create and parentheses
• Calling a method
– Object name, then dot separator (.)
– Then method name and parentheses

Diana Haidar
1 // Fig. 3.2: GradeBookTest.java 9
2 // Create a GradeBook object and call its displayMessage method. Outline
3
4 public class GradeBookTest
5 {
GradeBookTest.java
6 // main method begins program execution
7 public static void main( String args[] )
8 {
Use class instance creation
9 // create a GradeBook object and assign it to myGradeBook
expression to create object of class
10 GradeBook myGradeBook = new GradeBook(); GradeBook
11
12 // call myGradeBook's displayMessage method
Call method displayMessage
13 myGradeBook.displayMessage();
using GradeBook object
14 } // end main
15
16 } // end class GradeBookTest

Welcome to the Grade Book!

Diana Haidar
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UML Class Diagram for Class GradeBook

• UML class diagrams

– Top compartment contains name of the class
– Middle compartment contains class’s attributes or
instance variables
– Bottom compartment contains class’s operations or
methods
• Plus sign indicates public methods

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Fig. 3.3 | UML class diagram indicating that class GradeBook has a public
displayMessage operation.

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Updated UML Class Diagram for Class

GradeBook

• UML class diagram

– Parameters specified by parameter name followed by a
colon and parameter type

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Fig. 3.6 | UML class diagram indicating that class GradeBook has a displayMessage
operation with a courseName parameter of UML type String.

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3.5 Instance Variables, set Methods and

get Methods

• Variables declared in the body of method

– Called local variables
– Can only be used within that method
• Variables declared in a class declaration
– Called fields or instance variables
– Each object of the class has a separate instance of
the variable

Diana Haidar
1 // Fig. 3.7: GradeBook.java 15
// GradeBook class that contains a courseName instance variable
2
Outline
3 // and methods to set and get its value.
4
5 public class GradeBook Instance variable courseName
6 {
7 private String courseName; // course name for this GradeBook GradeBook.java
8
9 // method to set the course name
10 public void setCourseName( String name )
set method for courseName
11 {
12 courseName = name; // store the course name
13 } // end method setCourseName
14
15 // method to retrieve the course name
16 public String getCourseName()
get method for courseName
17 {
18 return courseName;
19 } // end method getCourseName
20
21 // display a welcome message to the GradeBook user
22 public void displayMessage()
23 {
24 // this statement calls getCourseName to get the
25 // name of the course this GradeBook represents
26 System.out.printf( "Welcome to the grade book for\n%s!\n",
27 getCourseName() );
28 } // end method displayMessage
Call get method
29
30 } // end class GradeBook

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Access Modifiers public and private

• private keyword
– Used for most instance variables
– private variables and methods are accessible only
to methods of the class in which they are declared
– Declaring instance variables private is known as
data hiding
• Return type
– Indicates item returned by method
– Declared in method header

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set and get methods

•private instance variables

– Cannot be accessed directly by clients of the object
– Use set methods to alter the value
– Use get methods to retrieve the value

Diana Haidar
1 // Fig. 3.8: GradeBookTest.java 18
// Create and manipulate a GradeBook object.
2
Outline
3 import java.util.Scanner; // program uses Scanner
4
5 public class GradeBookTest
6 {
7 // main method begins program execution
GradeBookTest.java
8 public static void main( String args[] )
9 {
(1 of 2)
10 // create Scanner to obtain input from command window
11 Scanner input = new Scanner( System.in );
12
13 // create a GradeBook object and assign it to myGradeBook
14 GradeBook myGradeBook = new GradeBook();
15
16 // display initial value of courseName
17 System.out.printf( "Initial course name is: %s\n\n",
18 myGradeBook.getCourseName() );
Call get method for courseName
19

Diana Haidar
20 // prompt for and read course name 19
21 System.out.println( "Please enter the course name:" ); Outline
22 String theName = input.nextLine(); // read a line of text
23 myGradeBook.setCourseName( theName ); // set the course name
Call set method for courseName
24 System.out.println(); // outputs a blank line
25 GradeBookTest.java
26 // display welcome message after specifying course name
(2 of 2)
27 myGradeBook.displayMessage();
Call displayMessage
28 } // end main
29
30 } // end class GradeBookTest

Initial course name is: null

Please enter the course name:

CS101 Introduction to Java Programming

Welcome to the grade book for

CS101 Introduction to Java Programming!

Diana Haidar
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GradeBook’s UML Class Diagram with an

Instance Variable and set and get Methods

• Attributes
– Listed in middle compartment
– Attribute name followed by colon followed by
attribute type
• Return type of a method
– Indicated with a colon and return type after the
parentheses after the operation name

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Fig. 3.9 | UML class diagram indicating that class GradeBook has a courseName attribute
of UML type String and three operations—setCourseName (with a name parameter of
UML type String), getCourseName (returns UML type String) and displayMessage.

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Primitive Types vs. Reference Types

• Types in Java
– Primitive
• boolean, byte, char, short, int, long, float,
double
– Reference (sometimes called nonprimitive types)
• Objects
• Default value of null
• Used to invoke an object’s methods

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3.7 Initializing Objects with Constructors

• Constructors
– Initialize an object of a class
– Java requires a constructor for every class
– Java will provide a default no-argument constructor
if none is provided
– Called when keyword new is followed by the class
name and parentheses

Diana Haidar
1 // Fig. 3.10: GradeBook.java 24
2 // GradeBook class with a constructor to initialize the course name. Outline
3
4 public class GradeBook
5 {
6 private String courseName; // course name for this GradeBook GradeBook.java
7
8 // constructor initializes courseName with String supplied as argument (1 of 2)
9 public GradeBook( String name )
10 { Constructor to initialize
11 courseName = name; // initializes courseName courseName variable
12 } // end constructor
13
14 // method to set the course name
15 public void setCourseName( String name )
16 {
17 courseName = name; // store the course name
18 } // end method setCourseName
19
20 // method to retrieve the course name
21 public String getCourseName()
22 {
23 return courseName;
24 } // end method getCourseName

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25 25
26 // display a welcome message to the GradeBook user Outline
27 public void displayMessage()
28 {
29 // this statement calls getCourseName to get the
GradeBook.java
30 // name of the course this GradeBook represents
31 System.out.printf( "Welcome to the grade book for\n%s!\n", (2 of 2)
32 getCourseName() );
33 } // end method displayMessage
34
35 } // end class GradeBook

Diana Haidar
1 // Fig. 3.11: GradeBookTest.java 26
2 // GradeBook constructor used to specify the course name at the Outline
3 // time each GradeBook object is created.
4
5 public class GradeBookTest
6 { GradeBookTest.java
7 // main method begins program execution
8 public static void main( String args[] ) Call constructor to create first grade
9 { book object
10 // create GradeBook object
11 GradeBook gradeBook1 = new GradeBook(
12 "CS101 Introduction to Java Programming" );
13 GradeBook gradeBook2 = new GradeBook(
14 "CS102 Data Structures in Java" );
15 Create second grade book object
16 // display initial value of courseName for each GradeBook
17 System.out.printf( "gradeBook1 course name is: %s\n",
18 gradeBook1.getCourseName() );
19 System.out.printf( "gradeBook2 course name is: %s\n",
20 gradeBook2.getCourseName() );
21 } // end main
22
23 } // end class GradeBookTest

gradeBook1 course name is: CS101 Introduction to Java Programming

gradeBook2 course name is: CS102 Data Structures in Java

Diana Haidar
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Adding the Constructor to Class

GradeBookTest’s UML Class Diagram

• UML class diagram

– Constructors go in third compartment
– Place “<<constructor>>” before constructor name
– By convention, place constructors first in their
compartment

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Fig. 3.12 | UML class diagram indicating that class GradeBook has a constructor that has
a name parameter of UML type String.

Diana Haidar