Information Technology

Applications Programming

LECTURE 2
Object Oriented Design Concepts

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Object Oriented Design Concepts

Learning Objectives
At the end of the lecture, you should be able to:

Discuss how objects are stored in memory

Use and describe Overloading

Describe features of good OO Design

Use and describe static methods and attributes

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Passing Objects

A variable has a name, type & value

The value can be a primitive type eg

double height = 3.0;

Or a reference type eg

Dog billy = new Dog("M", "White", "Corgi", 11, true);

A reference variable is a reference to an object; the location of

the object in memory

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 Memory

Name Type Value

height double 3.0
billy Dog 69E77A20F

Memory location is hexadecimal (base 16)

We don’t normally care what the memory
location is, so we draw the value as a
reference

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References

Name Type Value

billy Dog

gender String
colour String
breed String
age int 9
spayed boolean 1

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More on References

A reference value can be passed as an argument.

If you pass a referecne, then the parameter is the
local variable that points to the object

The local variable disappears when the method
exits, but the object does not.

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Array Object Diagram
Name Type Value
dogs Dog[]

0
1
2

The new object is now pointed to by an entry in the array

The value of the array item is a reference to the object

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Design Steps for Re-useable Code

There are 3 steps:

Get the pieces – words in the specification
– Class, object, attribute, function,
procedure
– Goal – what do we need to do?

Connect the pieces
– Create a representation of the system
– Use Data Flow and Control Flow to
uncover relationships

Convert into OO code
– Identify classes
– Place code in the correct class
– Use design rules and refactoring

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Goals for Good Programming

Design for reuse

Write modular code
– Small methods encapsulated
by classes

Take small steps
– Compile & test often
– This reduces the need for
debugging code

Evaluate and refactor the code

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4 Design Levels
Planning
Manage stages; analysis, design, code, test etc

System Design
Design the overall system; classes, attributes etc
Evaluate with design rules

Code Design
Write clear, simple, reusable code; naming,
spacing, simplicity, modularity

Coding
Assignments, if, loops, arrays etc

We will focus on System Design and Code Design

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Classes
A class is defined by its behaviour.

If two things behave the same way, they are two objects of
the same class (or related classes)

But how do we know what behaviour a class has?

Object Class

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Names
Listen to the words used

A noun can be a
– Class (or Object): Student, Dog,
tracy
– Attribute (or variable): amount,
length, price
– Function: area, volume, cost

A verb can be a
– Procedure: sell, show

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More on Names
Generic verbs like "find" and "calculate" tell you that a function
is coming up:

Example
– "find the income from seat sales"
– "find the personal profit after tax"
– "calculate the attendance"

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Functions and Procedures

A function calculates a value and changes nothing.

A procedure changes one or more attribute values.

A method can be either a function or a procedure – not both!

A method does one single thing.

Function Procedure Method

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The “Of” Rule

The word “of” gives you the feature and the class
Examples:

Height of a Box
– Attribute height class Box

Area of a Rectangle
– Method area() class Rectangle

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Exercise
We want to
Calculate the area of a Rectangle
Calculate the perimeter of a Rectangle

What class would we create?

What methods would it have?

What attributes would it need?

What parameters would the constructor have?

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Answer
public class Rectangle
{
private double length;
private double width;
public Rectangle()
{
}
public Rectangle(double length, double width)
{
this.length = length;
this.width = width;
}
public double area()
{
return length*width;
}
public double perimeter()
{
return 2*(length + width);
}
}

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Rectangle Class

What accessors could we have for Rectangle?

What mutators could we have?

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Answer
public double getLength()
Accessors
{
return length;
}
public double getWidth()
{
return width;
}

Mutators
public void setLength(double length)
{
this.length = length;
}
public void setWidth(double width)
{
this.width = width;
}

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Rectangle

Now we can use the mutators in the alternate constructor

public Rectangle(double length, double width)

{
// initialise instance variables
setLength(length);
setWidth(width);
}

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Rectangle

We have 2 ways to create a Rectangle object

Default constructor:

Rectangle rectangle = new Rectangle();

rectangle.setLength(5.0);
rectangle.setWidth(2.0);

Alternate constructor:

Rectangle rectangle = new Rectangle(5.0, 2.0);

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toString()
The method: public String toString()
Should be added to your classes. Use it to return the values of
the attributes of a class as a String

This removes the need to use

Integer.toString(height); or
Double.toString(height);

Note: int & double can be easily converted to a String

by using
– String result = “”+height;
– Where height is an int or a double

What would the toString() method return for the Rectangle class?
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Overloading
A method can be overloaded

Java matches a method call to a method definition with the
– name
– arguments: number, type, and order

This is called the signature of the method.

More than one method can have the same name in a class or
package

Method signature can not be the same ie cannot have the exact
same arguments

Example:

sleep()
sleep(int time)
sleep(boolean stop)
sleep(int start, int time)

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Overloading Example

The Rectangle constructors are an example of overloading

Default constructor –

public Rectangle()
{
}

Alternate Constructor –

public Rectangle(double length, double width)

{
// initialise instance variables
setLength(length);
setWidth(width);
}

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Another Overloading Example

Consider a Calculator class:

add()
– This method would use attributes set in the constructor

add(double number1, double number2)

– This method would use arguments passed to the method

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OO Design Principles

Place the code in a set of small
methods.
– Methods should be less than 8
lines of code

Methods should do one single thing
only

Place the methods and data in a set of
classes.

Hide the data and as many methods as
possible. Make attributes & methods
private

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Class Encapsulation

• Hiding the implementation

(and data) from the client
Supports (calling class)
• Exporting just the class
reuse by behaviour (as few methods
as possible) for client
classes to use

This creates a system with high cohesion (the code lives with
the data) and low coupling (little data is passed between
classes); that is, a set of reusable classes.

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 OO Design Rules

An attribute should be private, to enforce
class encapsulation.

Initialise an attribute in the declaration if
possible, example
– private double balance = 0;

Use as few attributes as possible.
– Use local variables if you can
– names should be clear, simple, and
descriptive.

Literals are bad; use a constant.
– private final int DAYS_IN_YEAR = 365; not
a naked value in code, example,
if (days < 365) should be
if (days < DAYS_IN_YEAR)
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Local Variables

Local variables support method encapsulation; if a value is used

only inside a method, make it local, don't make it an attribute.

A local variable is declared inside a method.

It is temporary; it exists only inside the block where it is
declared.

The scope of a variable is the area where it can be seen and
used.

The scope may be less than a method eg a variable may only
exist inside a loop

The scope of a local is the block where it is declared.

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Parameters

A parameter is a local variable; its scope is the method.

It is created when the method is called, exists while the

method is executing, and disappears when the method exits.

The method call supplies one value for each parameter; the
value is called an argument.

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Parameter Binding

Parameters are
Find the matching method bound in order;
the first parameter
gets the first
Create local variables for the parameters argument, the
second parameter
gets the next value
Bind the parameters to the argument values (argument), and so
on.

Method calls
Use the parameters inside the method supply values
(arguments);
method headers
Delete the parameters when the method exits
supply variables
(parameters).
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Rule: Never Repeat Code

Code should never be duplicated

– Create a re-useable method

Repeated code causes

– Integrity issues
– Maintenance issues
– BUGS

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Static Attributes

Static means does not change per object (instance of a class)

A Static attribute can be called without an object

public static double PI = 3.141592654;

PI is a static constant defined in the Math class (in Java API)

– Math.PI is an example of a static attribute, we call the Class

then the attribute name, we do not need an object of the
Math class

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Static Methods

A Static method does not use any data that belongs to an

object.

public static double pow(double a, double b) {…}

Math.pow() is an example of a static method, we call the Class

then the method name, we do not need an object of the Math
class

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Rule: Minimal Use of Static

Static members break class encapsulation

A static attribute or method is visible

within the whole system.

Static attributes and methods are almost
always a bad idea.

Very few Java library classes have a static
member (attribute or method) because it
is a bad idea

Only use static if there is no other
reasonable choice.

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Rule: Few Public Mutators

Public mutators like:

public setLength(double length);

Should be used sparingly

They allow other classes to change

the data inside this class.

Its like making the attribute public.

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public static void main()

public static void main(String[] args)

is the entry point for an application (executable).

If you need it, then make it the only static member in the
whole system (if you can).

We will not use this until we start GUI

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Key Concepts
Summary

When an object is created, memory is
allocated to store it

Design – get the pieces, connect the
pieces, convert into OO Code

4 Design levels: Planning, System
Design, Code Design, Coding

Noun is a class, object or attribute

Verb is a procedure

Feature “of” class

Rule: Never Repeat Code

Rule: Minimal Use of Static

Rule: Few Public mutators

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