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L07 - Classes & Objects

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13 views27 pages

L07 - Classes & Objects

Uploaded by

Dawit Belete
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Lecture 7

Classes and Objects


What is an Object?
 An Object has two primary components:
 state – properties of the object

 behavior – operations the object can perform

 Examples
object state behavior
dog isHungry eat, bark
grade book grades mean, median
light on/off switch
Objects in Java
 A class defines a new type of Object

 To create a Object type to represent a


light switch . . .

class LightSwitch {

// state and behavior here

}
Fields
 An Object's state is stored in variables
called fields
 Fields are declared (and optionally
initialized) inside the braces of the class
 Light switch example with a field . . .
class LightSwitch {

boolean on = true;

}
Methods

 An Object's behavior is defined by its


methods

 Methods, like fields, are written inside


the braces of the class

 Methods can access the fields (the state)


of their object and can change them
Light Switch Example
class LightSwitch {

boolean on = true; // field

boolean isOn() { // returns


return on; // the state
}

void switch() { // changes


on = !on; // the state
}
}
Constructing Objects
 We use the new keyword to construct a
new instance of an Object

 We can assign this instance to a variable


with the same type of the Object

LightSwitch ls = new LightSwitch();

 Note: classes define new datatypes !


Using Fields and Methods
LightSwitch ls = new LightSwitch();

 To access the field of an instance of an


Object use instance.field
ls.on;

 To access the method of an instance use


instance.method(arguments)
ls.isOn();
ls.switch();
Example Using Light Switch

 What does this main method print out?

LightSwitch ls = new LightSwitch();


System.out.println(ls.on);
ls.switch();
System.out.println(ls.isOn());
Person Example
class Person {
String name;
int age;
String getName() { return name; }

void setName(String n) { name = n; }

int getAge() { return age; }

void setAge(int a) { age = a; }

}
Constructing Person Objects

 To create an instance of the Person class


with a name of "George" and an age of 22
Person obj = new Person();
obj.setName(“Abebe");
obj.setAge(22);

 Can we create a Person that has the name


Abebe and the age 22 from the moment it
is created?
Constructors
 Constructors are special methods used to
construct an instance of a class

 They have no return type

 They have the same name as the class of the


Object they are constructing

 They initialize the state of the Object

 Call the constructor by preceding it with the


new keyword
Person Constructor
class Person {
String name;
int age;

Person(String n, int a) {
name = n;
age = a;
}

// . . .
}

 Now we can construct George as follows:


Person george = new Person("George", 22);
Default Constructor
 When you do not write a constructor in a
class, it implicitly has a constructor with no
arguments and an empty body
class LightSwitch {

// Leaving out the constructor


// is the same as . . .
LightSwitch() {}
}
 Result: every class has a constructor
Multiple Constructors
 A class can have multiple constructors
class LightSwitch {

boolean on;

LightSwitch() {
on = true;
}

LightSwitch(boolean o) {
on = o;
}
}
This Keyword
 Instance can refer to itself with the
keyword this
class LightSwitch {

boolean on;

LightSwitch() {
this.on = true; //(same as
on=true;)
}

LightSwitch(boolean on) {
this.on = on;
}
Cascading Constructors
 A constructor can call another constructor with
this(arguments)
class LightSwitch {

boolean on;

LightSwitch() {
this(true);
}

LightSwitch(boolean on) {
this.on = on;
}
}
Classes Recap
 Classes have fields to store the state of the objects
in the class and methods to provide the operations
the objects can perform.
 We construct instances of a class with the keyword
new followed by a call a constructor method of the
class.
 If you do not provide a constructor, the class will
have one with no arguments and no statements by
default.
Equality Quiz 1
 Is (a == b) ?
int a = 7;
int b = 7;

 Is (g == h) ?
Person g = new Person(“Abebe", 26);
Person h = new Person(“Abebe", 26);
Primitives vs Objects
 Two datatypes in Java: primitives and objects

Primitives: byte, short, int, long, double, float,


boolean, char
== tests if two primitives have the same value

Objects: defined in Java classes


== tests if two objects are the same object
References
 The new keyword always constructs a
new unique instance of a class
 When an instance is assigned to a
variable, that variable is said to
hold a reference or point to that object
Person g = new Person(“Abebe", 26);
Person h = new Person(“Abebe", 26);

 g and h hold references to two different


objects that happen to have identical state
Reference Inequality
 g != h because g and h hold references
to different objects
Person g = new Person(“Abebe", 26);
Person h = new Person(“Abebe", 26);

g h

“Abebe" “Abebe"
26 26
Equality Quiz 2
 true or false?
Person g = new Person(“Abebe", 26);
Person h = new Person(“Abebe", 26);
Person g1 = new Person(“Alemu", 23);
Person g2 = g1;

a) g == h
b) g.getAge() == h.getAge()
c) g1 == g2
d) g1.getAge() == g2.getAge();
Reference Equality
 g1 == g2 because g1 and g2 hold
references to the same object
Person g1 = new Person(“Alemu", 23);
Person g2 = g1;

g1

“Alemu"
23

g2
Apple Example
class Apple {
String color;
double price;

Apple(String color, double price) {


this.color = color;
this.price = price;
}

Apple(double price) {
this("green", price);
}

String getColor() { return color; }


double getPrice() { return price; }
void setPrice(double p) { price = p; }
}
Apple Quiz
 What will these lines print out?
Apple a = new Apple("red", 100.0);
System.out.println(a.getColor());
System.out.println(a.getPrice());
a.setPrice(50.5);
System.out.println(a.getPrice());

Apple b = new Apple(74.6);


System.out.println(b.getColor());
System.out.println(b.getPrice());
b.setPrice(a.getPrice());
System.out.println(b.getPrice());
Java API

 You can get information on all in-built Java


classes/methods by browsing the Java
Application Programming Interface (API)

 This documentation is essential to building


any substantial Java application

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