Java Introduction

What is Java?
Java is a popular programming language, created in 1995.

It is owned by Oracle, and more than 3 billion devices run Java.

It is used for:

 Mobile applications (specially Android apps)

 Desktop applications
 Web applications
 Web servers and application servers
 Games
 Database connection
 And much, much more!

Why Use Java?

 Java works on different platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi,
etc.)
 It is one of the most popular programming language in the world
 It is easy to learn and simple to use
 It is open-source and free
 It is secure, fast and powerful
 It has a huge community support (tens of millions of developers)
 Java is an object oriented language which gives a clear structure to
programs and allows code to be reused, lowering development costs
 As Java is close to C++ and C#, it makes it easy for programmers to
switch to Java or vice versa

1
Get Started
It is not necessary to have any prior programming experience.

Java Getting Started

Java Install
Some PCs might have Java already installed.

To check if you have Java installed on a Windows PC, search in the start bar
for Java or type the following in Command Prompt (cmd.exe):

C:\Users\Your Name>java –version

C:\Users\Your Name>javac –version

If Java is installed, you will see something like this (depending on version):

java version "11.0.1" 2018-10-16 LTS

Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment 18.9 (build 11.0.1+13-LTS)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM 18.9 (build 11.0.1+13-LTS,
mixed mode)

If you do not have Java installed on your computer, you can download it for
free at oracle.com.

Note: In this tutorial, we will write Java code in a text editor. However, it is
possible to write Java in an Integrated Development Environment, such as
IntelliJ IDEA and NetBeans which are particularly useful when managing larger
collections of Java files.

2
Setup for Windows

To install Java on Windows:

1. Go to "System Properties" (Can be found on Control Panel > System

and Security > System > Advanced System Settings)
2. Click on the "Environment variables" button under the "Advanced" tab
3. Then, select the "Path" variable in System variables and click on the
"Edit" button
4. Click on the "New" button and add the path where Java is installed,
followed by \bin. By default, Java is installed in C:\Program Files\Java\
jdk-11.0.1 (If nothing else was specified when you installed it). In that
case, You will have to add a new path with: C:\Program Files\Java\
jdk-11.0.1\bin
Then, click "OK", and save the settings
5. At last, open Command Prompt (cmd.exe) and type java -version to
see if Java is running on your machine

Java Quick start

In Java, every application begins with a class name, and that class must
match the filename.

Let's create our first Java file, called Main.java, which can be done in any text
editor (like Notepad).

The file should contain a "Hello World" message, which is written with the
following code:

3
Main.java

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

System.out.println("Hello World");

Do not worry if you do not understand the code above - we will discuss it in
detail in later chapters. For now, focus on how to run the code above.

Save the code in Notepad as "Main.java". Open Command Prompt (cmd.exe),

navigate to the directory where you saved your file, and type "javac
Main.java":

C:\Users\Your Name>javac Main.java

This will compile your code. If there are no errors in the code, the command
prompt will take you to the next line. Now, type "java Main" to run the file:

C:\Users\Your Name>java Main

The output should read:

Hello World

Congratulations! You have written and executed your first Java program.

4
Java Syntax
We created a Java file called Main.java, and we used the following code to print
"Hello World" to the screen:

MyClass.java

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

System.out.println("Hello World");

Example explained
Every line of code that runs in Java must be inside a class. In our example,
we named the class Main. A class should always start with an uppercase first
letter.

Note: Java is case-sensitive: "MyClass" and "myclass" has different meaning.

The name of the java file must match the class name. When saving the file,
save it using the class name and add ".java" to the end of the filename. To
run the example above on your computer, make sure that Java is properly
installed: The output should be:

Hello World

The main Method

5
 The main() method is required and you will see it in every Java program:

public static void main(String[] args)

Any code inside the main() method will be executed. You don't have to
understand the keywords before and after main. You will get to know them bit
by bit while reading this tutorial.

For now, just remember that every Java program has a class name which
must match the filename, and that every program must contain
the main() method.

System.out.println()
Inside the main() method, we can use the println() method to print a line
of text to the screen:

public static void main(String[] args) {

System.out.println("Hello World");

Note: The curly braces {} marks the beginning and the end of a block of code.

Note: Each code statement must end with a semicolon.

Java Comments

6
 Comments can be used to explain Java code, and to make it more readable. It
can also be used to prevent execution when testing alternative code.

Single-line comments start with two forward slashes ( //).

Any text between // and the end of the line is ignored by Java (will not be
executed).

This example uses a single-line comment before a line of code:

Example
// This is a comment

System.out.println("Hello World");

This example uses a single-line comment at the end of a line of code:

Example
System.out.println("Hello World"); // This is a comment

Java Multi-line Comments

Multi-line comments start with /* and ends with */.

Any text between /* and */ will be ignored by Java.

This example uses a multi-line comment (a comment block) to explain the

code:

Example
/* The code below will print the words Hello World

to the screen, and it is amazing */

System.out.println("Hello World");

Single or multi-line comments?

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It is up to you which you want to use. Normally, we use // for short comments,
and /* */ for longer.

Test Exercises
Java Variables
Variables are containers for storing data values.

In Java, there are different types of variables, for example:

 String - stores text, such as "Hello". String values are surrounded by

double quotes
 int - stores integers (whole numbers), without decimals, such as 123 or
-123
 float - stores floating point numbers, with decimals, such as 19.99 or -
19.99
 char - stores single characters, such as 'a' or 'B'. Char values are
surrounded by single quotes
 boolean - stores values with two states: true or false

Declaring (Creating) Variables

To create a variable, you must specify the type and assign it a value:

Syntax
type variable = value;

Where type is one of Java's types (such as int or String), and variable is the
name of the variable (such as x or name). The equal sign is used to assign
values to the variable.

To create a variable that should store text, look at the following example:

Example
Create a variable called name of type String and assign it the value "John":

String name = "John";

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System.out.println(name);

To create a variable that should store a number, look at the following

example:

Example
Create a variable called myNum of type int and assign it the value 15:

int myNum = 15;

System.out.println(myNum);

You can also declare a variable without assigning the value, and assign the
value later:

Example
int myNum;

myNum = 15;

System.out.println(myNum);

Note that if you assign a new value to an existing variable, it will overwrite the
previous value:

Example
Change the value of myNum from 15 to 20:

int myNum = 15;

myNum = 20; // myNum is now 20

System.out.println(myNum);

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Final Variables
However, you can add the final keyword if you don't want others (or
yourself) to overwrite existing values (this will declare the variable as "final"
or "constant", which means unchangeable and read-only):

Example
final int myNum = 15;

myNum = 20; // will generate an error: cannot assign a value to

a final variable

Other Types
A demonstration of how to declare variables of other types:

Example
int myNum = 5;

float myFloatNum = 5.99f;

char myLetter = 'D';

boolean myBool = true;

String myText = "Hello";

You will learn more about data types in the next chapter.

Display Variables
The println() method is often used to display variables.

To combine both text and a variable, use the + character:

Example
String name = "John";

System.out.println("Hello " + name);

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You can also use the + character to add a variable to another variable:

Example
String firstName = "John ";

String lastName = "Doe";

String fullName = firstName + lastName;

System.out.println(fullName);

For numeric values, the + character works as a mathematical operator (notice

that we use int (integer) variables here):

Example
int x = 5;

int y = 6;

System.out.println(x + y); // Print the value of x + y

From the example above, you can expect:

 x stores the value 5

 y stores the value 6
 Then we use the println() method to display the value of x + y,
which is 11

Declare Many Variables

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To declare more than one variable of the same type, use a comma-separated
list:

Example
int x = 5, y = 6, z = 50;

System.out.println(x + y + z);

Java Identifiers
All Java variables must be identified with unique names.

These unique names are called identifiers.

Identifiers can be short names (like x and y) or more descriptive names (age,
sum, totalVolume).

Note: It is recommended to use descriptive names in order to create

understandable and maintainable code:

Example
// Good

int minutesPerHour = 60;

// OK, but not so easy to understand what m actually is

int m = 60;

The general rules for constructing names for variables (unique identifiers) are:

 Names can contain letters, digits, underscores, and dollar signs

 Names must begin with a letter
 Names should start with a lowercase letter and it cannot contain
whitespace
 Names can also begin with $ and _ (but we will not use it in this tutorial)
 Names are case sensitive ("myVar" and "myvar" are different variables)
12
  Reserved words (like Java keywords, such as int or boolean) cannot
be used as names

Java Data Types

A variable in Java must be a specified data type:

Example
int myNum = 5; // Integer (whole number)

float myFloatNum = 5.99f; // Floating point number

char myLetter = 'D'; // Character

boolean myBool = true; // Boolean

String myText = "Hello"; // String

Data types are divided into two groups:

 Primitive data types -

includes byte, short, int, long, float, double, boolean and char
 Non-primitive data types - such as String, Arrays and Classes

 Primitive Data Types

A primitive data type specifies the size and type of variable values, and it has no
additional methods.

13
There are eight primitive data types in Java:

Data Type Size Description

byte 1 byte Stores whole numbers from -128 to 127

short 2 bytes Stores whole numbers from -32,768 to 32,767

int 4 bytes Stores whole numbers from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647

long 8 bytes Stores whole numbers from -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to

9,223,372,036,854,775,807

float 4 bytes Stores fractional numbers. Sufficient for storing 6 to 7 decimal

double 8 bytes Stores fractional numbers. Sufficient for storing 15 decimal di

boolean 1 bit Stores true or false values

char 2 bytes Stores a single character/letter or ASCII values

Numbers
Primitive number types are divided into two groups:

14
Integer types stores whole numbers, positive or negative (such as 123 or -
456), without decimals. Valid types are byte, short, int and long. Which type
you should use, depends on the numeric value.

Floating point types represents numbers with a fractional part, containing

one or more decimals. There are two types: float and double.

Even though there are many numeric types in Java, the most used for
numbers are int (for whole numbers) and double (for floating point numbers).
However, we will describe them all as you continue to read.

Integer Types
Byte
The byte data type can store whole numbers from -128 to 127. This can be
used instead of int or other integer types to save memory when you are
certain that the value will be within -128 and 127:

Example
byte myNum = 100;

System.out.println(myNum);

Short
The short data type can store whole numbers from -32768 to 32767:

Example
short myNum = 5000;
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System.out.println(myNum);

Int
The int data type can store whole numbers from -2147483648 to
2147483647. In general, and in our tutorial, the int data type is the preferred
data type when we create variables with a numeric value.

Example
int myNum = 100000;

System.out.println(myNum);

Long
The long data type can store whole numbers from -9223372036854775808 to
9223372036854775807. This is used when int is not large enough to store the
value. Note that you should end the value with an "L":

Example
long myNum = 15000000000L;

System.out.println(myNum);

Floating Point Types

You should use a floating point type whenever you need a number with a
decimal, such as 9.99 or 3.14515.

Float

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The float data type can store fractional numbers from 3.4e−038 to
3.4e+038. Note that you should end the value with an "f":

Example
float myNum = 5.75f;

System.out.println(myNum);

Double
The double data type can store fractional numbers from 1.7e−308 to
1.7e+308. Note that you should end the value with a "d":

Example
double myNum = 19.99d;

System.out.println(myNum);

Use float or double?

The precision of a floating point value indicates how many digits the value
can have after the decimal point. The precision of float is only six or seven
decimal digits, while double variables have a precision of about 15 digits.
Therefore it is safer to use double for most calculations.

Scientific Numbers
A floating point number can also be a scientific number with an "e" to indicate
the power of 10:

Example
float f1 = 35e3f;

double d1 = 12E4d;

System.out.println(f1);

System.out.println(d1);

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Booleans
A boolean data type is declared with the boolean keyword and can only take
the values true or false:

Example
boolean isJavaFun = true;

boolean isFishTasty = false;

System.out.println(isJavaFun); // Outputs true

System.out.println(isFishTasty); // Outputs false

Boolean values are mostly used for conditional testing, which you will learn
more about in a later chapter.

Characters
The char data type is used to store a single character. The character must be
surrounded by single quotes, like 'A' or 'c':

Example
char myGrade = 'B';

System.out.println(myGrade);

Alternatively, you can use ASCII values to display certain characters:

Example
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char a = 65, b = 66, c = 67;

System.out.println(a);

System.out.println(b);

System.out.println(c);

Tip: A list of all ASCII values can be found in our ASCII Table Reference.

Strings
The String data type is used to store a sequence of characters (text). String
values must be surrounded by double quotes:

Example
String greeting = "Hello World";

System.out.pr

The String type is so much used and integrated in Java, that some call it "the
special ninth type".

A String in Java is actually a non-primitive data type, because it refers to an

object. The String object has methods that are used to perform certain
operations on strings. Don't worry if you don't understand the term
"object" just yet. We will learn more about strings and objects in a later
chapter.

Non-Primitive Data Types

Non-primitive data types are called reference types because they refer to
objects.

The main difference between primitive and non-primitive data types are:

 Primitive types are predefined (already defined) in Java. Non-primitive

types are created by the programmer and is not defined by Java
(except for String).

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  Non-primitive types can be used to call methods to perform certain
operations, while primitive types cannot.
 A primitive type has always a value, while non-primitive types can
be null.
 A primitive type starts with a lowercase letter, while non-primitive types
starts with an uppercase letter.
 The size of a primitive type depends on the data type, while non-
primitive types have all the same size.

Examples of non-primitive types are Strings, Arrays, Classes, Interface, etc.

Java Type Casting

Type casting is when you assign a value of one primitive data type to another
type.

In Java, there are two types of casting:

 Widening Casting (automatically) - converting a smaller type to a

larger type size

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 byte -> short -> char -> int -> long -> float -> double

 Narrowing Casting (manually) - converting a larger type to a smaller

size type
double -> float -> long -> int -> char -> short -> byte

Widening Casting
Widening casting is done automatically when passing a smaller size type to a
larger size type:

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

int myInt = 9;

double myDouble = myInt; // Automatic casting: int to double

System.out.println(myInt); // Outputs 9

System.out.println(myDouble); // Outputs 9.0

Narrowing Casting
Narrowing casting must be done manually by placing the type in parentheses
in front of the value:

Example
public class Main {

21
 public static void main(String[] args) {

double myDouble = 9.78;

int myInt = (int) myDouble; // Manual casting: double to int

System.out.println(myDouble); // Outputs 9.78

System.out.println(myInt); // Outputs 9

Java Operators
Operators are used to perform operations on variables and values.

In the example below, we use the + operator to add together two values:

Example
int x = 100 + 50;
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Although the + operator is often used to add together two values, like in the
example above, it can also be used to add together a variable and a value, or
a variable and another variable:

Example
int sum1 = 100 + 50; // 150 (100 + 50)

int sum2 = sum1 + 250; // 400 (150 + 250)

int sum3 = sum2 + sum2; // 800 (400 + 400)

Java divides the operators into the following groups:

 Arithmetic operators
 Assignment operators
 Comparison operators
 Logical operators
 Bitwise operators

Arithmetic Operators
Arithmetic operators are used to perform common mathematical operations.

Operator Name Description Example

23
 + Addition Adds together two values x+y

- Subtraction Subtracts one value from another x-y

* Multiplication Multiplies two values x*y

/ Division Divides one value by another x/y

% Modulus Returns the division remainder x%y

++ Increment Increases the value of a variable by 1 ++x

-- Decrement Decreases the value of a variable by 1 --x

Java Assignment Operators

Assignment operators are used to assign values to variables.

In the example below, we use the assignment operator (=) to assign the
value 10 to a variable called x:

24
 Example
int x = 10;

The addition assignment operator (+=) adds a value to a variable:

Example
int x = 10;

x += 5;

A list of all assignment operators:

Operator Example Same As

= x=5 x=5

+= x += 3 x=x+3

-= x -= 3 x=x-3

*= x *= 3 x=x*3

/= x /= 3 x=x/3

%= x %= 3 x=x%3

&= x &= 3 x=x&3

25
 |= x |= 3 x=x|3

^= x ^= 3 x=x^3

>>= x >>= 3 x = x >> 3

<<= x <<= 3 x = x << 3

Java Comparison Operators

Comparison operators are used to compare two values:

Operator Name Example

== Equal to x == y

!= Not equal x != y

> Greater than x>y

< Less than x<y

>= Greater than or equal to x >= y

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 <= Less than or equal to x <= y

Java Logical Operators

Logical operators are used to determine the logic between variables or
values:

Operator Name Description Example

&& Logical and Returns true if both statements are true x < 5 && x <

|| Logical or Returns true if one of the statements is true x < 5 || x < 4

! Logical not Reverse the result, returns false if the result is

true

Java Strings
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Strings are used for storing text.

A String variable contains a collection of characters surrounded by double

quotes:

Example
Create a variable of type String and assign it a value:

String greeting = "Hello";

String Length
A String in Java is actually an object, which contain methods that can perform
certain operations on strings. For example, the length of a string can be found
with the length() method:

Example
String txt = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";

System.out.println("The length of the txt string is: " +

txt.length());

More String Methods

There are many string methods available, for
example toUpperCase() and toLowerCase():
28
Example
String txt = "Hello World";

System.out.println(txt.toUpperCase()); // Outputs "HELLO WORLD"

System.out.println(txt.toLowerCase()); // Outputs "hello world"

Finding a Character in a String

The indexOf() method returns the index (the position) of the first
occurrence of a specified text in a string (including whitespace):

Example
String txt = "Please locate where 'locate' occurs!";

System.out.println(txt.indexOf("locate")); // Outputs 7

Java counts positions from zero.

0 is the first position in a string, 1 is the second, 2 is the third ...

String Concatenation
The + operator can be used between strings to combine them. This is
called concatenation:

29
Example
String firstName = "John";

String lastName = "Doe";

System.out.println(firstName + " " + lastName);

Note that we have added an empty text (" ") to create a space between
firstName and lastName on print.

You can also use the concat() method to concatenate two strings:

Example
String firstName = "John ";

String lastName = "Doe";

System.out.println(firstName.concat(lastName));

Special Characters
Because strings must be written within quotes, Java will misunderstand this
string, and generate an error:

String txt = "We are the so-called "Vikings" from the north.";

The solution to avoid this problem, is to use the backslash escape

character.

The backslash (\) escape character turns special characters into string
characters:

Escape character Result Description

\' ' Single quote

30
 \" " Double quote

\\ \ Backslash

The sequence \" inserts a double quote in a string:

Example
String txt = "We are the so-called \"Vikings\" from the north.";

The sequence \' inserts a single quote in a string:

Example
String txt = "It\'s alright.";

The sequence \\ inserts a single backslash in a string:

Example
String txt = "The character \\ is called backslash.";

Six other escape sequences are valid in Java:

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 Code Result

\n New Line

\r Carriage Return

\t Tab

\b Backspace

\f Form Feed

Adding Numbers and Strings

WARNING!

Java uses the + operator for both addition and concatenation.

Numbers are added. Strings are concatenated.

If you add two numbers, the result will be a number:

Example
int x = 10;

int y = 20;

int z = x + y; // z will be 30 (an integer/number)

If you add two strings, the result will be a string concatenation:

32
Example
String x = "10";

String y = "20";

String z = x + y; // z will be 1020 (a String)

If you add a number and a string, the result will be a string concatenation:

Example
String x = "10";

int y = 20;

String z = x + y; // z will be 1020 (a String)

33
Java Math

The Java Math class has many methods that allows you to perform
mathematical tasks on numbers.

Math.max(x,y)
The Math.max(x,y) method can be used to find the highest value of x and y:

Example
Math.max(5, 10);

Math.min(x,y)
The Math.min(x,y) method can be used to find the lowest value of x and y:

Example
Math.min(5, 10);

Math.sqrt(x)
The Math.sqrt(x) method returns the square root of x:

Example
Math.sqrt(64);

Math.abs(x)
The Math.abs(x) method returns the absolute (positive) value of x:

Example
34
Math.abs(-4.7);

Random Numbers
Math.random() returns a random number between 0.0 (inclusive), and 1.0
(exclusive):

Example
Math.random();

To get more control over the random number, e.g. you only want a random
number between 0 and 100, you can use the following formula:

Example
int randomNum = (int)(Math.random() * 101); // 0 to 100

Java Booleans
35
Very often, in programming, you will need a data type that can only have one
of two values, like:

 YES / NO
 ON / OFF
 TRUE / FALSE

For this, Java has a boolean data type, which can take the
values true or false.

Boolean Values
A boolean type is declared with the boolean keyword and can only take the
values true or false:

Example
boolean isJavaFun = true;

boolean isFishTasty = false;

System.out.println(isJavaFun); // Outputs true

System.out.println(isFishTasty); // Outputs false

However, it is more common to return boolean values from boolean

expressions, for conditional testing (see below).

Boolean Expression
A Boolean expression is a Java expression that returns a Boolean
value: true or false.

You can use a comparison operator, such as the greater than (>) operator to
find out if an expression (or a variable) is true:

Example
int x = 10;

int y = 9;

36
System.out.println(x > y); // returns true, because 10 is higher
than 9

Or even easier:

Example
System.out.println(10 > 9); // returns true, because 10 is higher
than 9

In the examples below, we use the equal to (==) operator to evaluate an

expression:

Example
int x = 10;

System.out.println(x == 10); // returns true, because the value

of x is equal to 10

Example
System.out.println(10 == 15); // returns false, because 10 is not
equal to 15

The Boolean value of an expression is the basis for all Java comparisons and
conditions.

Java If ... Else

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Java Conditions and If Statements
Java supports the usual logical conditions from mathematics:

 Less than: a < b

 Less than or equal to: a <= b
 Greater than: a > b
 Greater than or equal to: a >= b
 Equal to a == b
 Not Equal to: a != b

You can use these conditions to perform different actions for different
decisions.

Java has the following conditional statements:

 Use if to specify a block of code to be executed, if a specified condition

is true
 Use else to specify a block of code to be executed, if the same
condition is false
 Use else if to specify a new condition to test, if the first condition is
false
 Use switch to specify many alternative blocks of code to be executed

The if Statement
Use the if statement to specify a block of Java code to be executed if a
condition is true.

Syntax
if (condition) {

// block of code to be executed if the condition is true

Note that if is in lowercase letters. Uppercase letters (If or IF) will generate an
error.

In the example below, we test two values to find out if 20 is greater than 18. If
the condition is true, print some text:

38
Example
if (20 > 18) {

System.out.println("20 is greater than 18");

We can also test variables:

Example
int x = 20;

int y = 18;

if (x > y) {

System.out.println("x is greater than y");

Example explained
In the example above we use two variables, x and y, to test whether x is
greater than y (using the > operator). As x is 20, and y is 18, and we know
that 20 is greater than 18, we print to the screen that "x is greater than y".

The else Statement

39
Use the else statement to specify a block of code to be executed if the
condition is false.

Syntax
if (condition) {

// block of code to be executed if the condition is true

} else {

// block of code to be executed if the condition is false

Example
int time = 20;

if (time < 18) {

System.out.println("Good day.");

} else {

System.out.println("Good evening.");

// Outputs "Good evening."

Example explained
In the example above, time (20) is greater than 18, so the condition is false.
Because of this, we move on to the else condition and print to the screen
"Good evening". If the time was less than 18, the program would print "Good
day".

The else if Statement

40
Use the else if statement to specify a new condition if the first condition
is false.

Syntax
if (condition1) {

// block of code to be executed if condition1 is true

} else if (condition2) {

// block of code to be executed if the condition1 is false and

condition2 is true

} else {

// block of code to be executed if the condition1 is false and

condition2 is false

Example
int time = 22;

if (time < 10) {

System.out.println("Good morning.");

} else if (time < 20) {

System.out.println("Good day.");

} else {

System.out.println("Good evening.");

// Outputs "Good evening."

Example explained

41
In the example above, time (22) is greater than 10, so the first
condition is false. The next condition, in the else if statement, is also false,
so we move on to the else condition since condition1 and condition2 is
both false - and print to the screen "Good evening".

However, if the time was 14, our program would print "Good day."

Short Hand If...Else (Ternary Operator)

There is also a short-hand if else, which is known as the ternary
operator because it consists of three operands. It can be used to replace
multiple lines of code with a single line. It is often used to replace simple if
else statements:

Syntax
variable = (condition) ? expressionTrue : expressionFalse;

Instead of writing:

Example
int time = 20;

if (time < 18) {

System.out.println("Good day.");

} else {

System.out.println("Good evening.");

You can simply write:

42
Example
int time = 20;

String result = (time < 18) ? "Good day." : "Good evening.";

System.out.println(result);

Java Switch
Java Switch Statements
Use the switch statement to select one of many code blocks to be executed.

Syntax
switch(expression) {

case x:

// code block

break;

case y:

// code block

break;

default:

// code block

This is how it works:

 The switch expression is evaluated once.

 The value of the expression is compared with the values of each case.
 If there is a match, the associated block of code is executed.
 The break and default keywords are optional, and will be described
later in this chapter
43
The example below uses the weekday number to calculate the weekday
name:

Example
int day = 4;

switch (day) {

case 1:

System.out.println("Monday");

break;

case 2:

System.out.println("Tuesday");

break;

case 3:

System.out.println("Wednesday");

break;

case 4:

System.out.println("Thursday");

break;

case 5:

System.out.println("Friday");

break;

case 6:

System.out.println("Saturday");

break;

case 7:

System.out.println("Sunday");

break;

44
}

// Outputs "Thursday" (day 4)

The break Keyword

When Java reaches a break keyword, it breaks out of the switch block.

This will stop the execution of more code and case testing inside the block.

When a match is found, and the job is done, it's time for a break. There is no
need for more testing.

A break can save a lot of execution time because it "ignores" the execution of
all the rest of the code in the switch block.

The default Keyword

The default keyword specifies some code to run if there is no case match:

Example
int day = 4;

switch (day) {

case 6:

System.out.println("Today is Saturday");

break;

case 7:

System.out.println("Today is Sunday");

break;

default:

System.out.println("Looking forward to the Weekend");

}
45
// Outputs "Looking forward to the Weekend"

Note that if the default statement is used as the last statement in a switch
block, it does not need a break.

Java While Loop

Loops
Loops can execute a block of code as long as a specified condition is reached.

Loops are handy because they save time, reduce errors, and they make code
more readable.

Java While Loop

The while loop loops through a block of code as long as a specified condition
is true:

Syntax
while (condition) {

// code block to be executed

In the example below, the code in the loop will run, over and over again, as
long as a variable (i) is less than 5:

Example
46
int i = 0;

while (i < 5) {

System.out.println(i);

i++;

Note: Do not forget to increase the variable used in the condition, otherwise
the loop will never end!

The Do/While Loop

The do/while loop is a variant of the while loop. This loop will execute the
code block once, before checking if the condition is true, then it will repeat
the loop as long as the condition is true.

Syntax
do {

// code block to be executed

while (condition);

The example below uses a do/while loop. The loop will always be executed
at least once, even if the condition is false, because the code block is
executed before the condition is tested:

Example
int i = 0;
do {

System.out.println(i);

i++;

47
while (i < 5);

Do not forget to increase the variable used in the condition, otherwise the
loop will never end!

Java For Loop

When you know exactly how many times you want to loop through a block of
code, use the for loop instead of a while loop:

Syntax
for (statement 1; statement 2; statement 3) {

// code block to be executed

Statement 1 is executed (one time) before the execution of the code block.

Statement 2 defines the condition for executing the code block.

Statement 3 is executed (every time) after the code block has been
executed.

The example below will print the numbers 0 to 4:

Example
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {

System.out.println(i);

Example explained
Statement 1 sets a variable before the loop starts (int i = 0).

Statement 2 defines the condition for the loop to run (i must be less than 5). If
the condition is true, the loop will start over again, if it is false, the loop will
end.

Statement 3 increases a value (i++) each time the code block in the loop has
been executed.

48
Another Example
This example will only print even values between 0 and 10:

Example
for (int i = 0; i <= 10; i = i + 2) {

System.out.println(i);

For-Each Loop
There is also a "for-each" loop, which is used exclusively to loop through
elements in an array:

Syntax
for (type variableName : arrayName) {

// code block to be executed

The following example outputs all elements in the cars array, using a "for-
each" loop:

Example
String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};

for (String i : cars) {

System.out.println(i);

Java Break and Continue

49
Java Break
You have already seen the break statement used in an earlier chapter of this
tutorial. It was used to "jump out" of a switch statement.

The break statement can also be used to jump out of a loop.

This example jumps out of the loop when i is equal to 4:

Example
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {

if (i == 4) {

break;

System.out.println(i);

Java Continue
The continue statement breaks one iteration (in the loop), if a specified
condition occurs, and continues with the next iteration in the loop.

This example skips the value of 4:

Example
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {

if (i == 4) {

continue;

50
 System.out.println(i);

Break and Continue in While Loop

You can also use break and continue in while loops:

Break Example
int i = 0;

while (i < 10) {

System.out.println(i);

i++;

if (i == 4) {

break;

Continue Example
int i = 0;

while (i < 10) {

if (i == 4) {

i++;

continue;

51
 }

System.out.println(i);

i++;

Java Arrays
Arrays are used to store multiple values in a single variable, instead of
declaring separate variables for each value.

To declare an array, define the variable type with square brackets:

String[] cars;

We have now declared a variable that holds an array of strings. To insert

values to it, we can use an array literal - place the values in a comma-
separated list, inside curly braces:

String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};

To create an array of integers, you could write:

int[] myNum = {10, 20, 30, 40};

Access the Elements of an Array

You access an array element by referring to the index number.

This statement accesses the value of the first element in cars:

Example
String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};

System.out.println(cars[0]);

// Outputs Volvo
52
Note: Array indexes start with 0: [0] is the first element. [1] is the second
element, etc.

Change an Array Element

To change the value of a specific element, refer to the index number:

Example
cars[0] = "Opel";

Example
String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};

cars[0] = "Opel";

System.out.println(cars[0]);

// Now outputs Opel instead of Volvo

Array Length
To find out how many elements an array has, use the length property:

Example
String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};

System.out.println(cars.length);

// Outputs 4

53
Loop Through an Array
You can loop through the array elements with the for loop, and use
the length property to specify how many times the loop should run.

The following example outputs all elements in the cars array:

Example
String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};

for (int i = 0; i < cars.length; i++) {

System.out.println(cars[i]);

Loop Through an Array with For-Each

There is also a "for-each" loop, which is used exclusively to loop through
elements in arrays:

Syntax
for (type variable : arrayname) {

...

The following example outputs all elements in the cars array, using a "for-
each" loop:

Example
String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};

for (String i : cars) {

System.out.println(i);

54
The example above can be read like this: for each String element (called i -
as in index) in cars, print out the value of i.

If you compare the for loop and for-each loop, you will see that the for-
each method is easier to write, it does not require a counter (using the length
property), and it is more readable.

Multidimensional Arrays
A multidimensional array is an array containing one or more arrays.

To create a two-dimensional array, add each array within its own set of curly
braces:

Example
int[][] myNumbers = { {1, 2, 3, 4}, {5, 6, 7} };

myNumbers is now an array with two arrays as its elements.

To access the elements of the myNumbers array, specify two indexes: one
for the array, and one for the element inside that array. This example
accesses the third element (2) in the second array (1) of myNumbers:

Example
int[][] myNumbers = { {1, 2, 3, 4}, {5, 6, 7} };

int x = myNumbers[1][2];

System.out.println(x); // Outputs 7

We can also use a for loop inside another for loop to get the elements of
a two-dimensional array (we still have to point to the two indexes):

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

int[][] myNumbers = { {1, 2, 3, 4}, {5, 6, 7} };

55
 for (int i = 0; i < myNumbers.length; ++i) {

for(int j = 0; j < myNumbers[i].length; ++j) {

System.out.println(myNumbers[i][j]);

}
}

Java Arrays
Arrays are used to store multiple values in a single variable, instead of
declaring separate variables for each value.

To declare an array, define the variable type with square brackets:

String[] cars;

We have now declared a variable that holds an array of strings. To insert

values to it, we can use an array literal - place the values in a comma-
separated list, inside curly braces:

String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};

To create an array of integers, you could write:

int[] myNum = {10, 20, 30, 40};

Access the Elements of an Array

56
You access an array element by referring to the index number.

This statement accesses the value of the first element in cars:

Example
String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};

System.out.println(cars[0]);

// Outputs Volvo

Note: Array indexes start with 0: [0] is the first element. [1] is the second
element, etc.

Change an Array Element

To change the value of a specific element, refer to the index number:

Example
cars[0] = "Opel";

Example
String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};

cars[0] = "Opel";

System.out.println(cars[0]);

// Now outputs Opel instead of Volvo

Array Length
To find out how many elements an array has, use the length property:

57
Example
String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};

System.out.println(cars.length);

// Outputs 4

Loop Through an Array

You can loop through the array elements with the for loop, and use
the length property to specify how many times the loop should run.

The following example outputs all elements in the cars array:

Example
String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};

for (int i = 0; i < cars.length; i++) {

System.out.println(cars[i]);

Loop Through an Array with For-Each

There is also a "for-each" loop, which is used exclusively to loop through
elements in arrays:

Syntax
for (type variable : arrayname) {

...

58
The following example outputs all elements in the cars array, using a "for-
each" loop:

Example
String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};

for (String i : cars) {

System.out.println(i);

The example above can be read like this: for each String element (called i -
as in index) in cars, print out the value of i.

If you compare the for loop and for-each loop, you will see that the for-
each method is easier to write, it does not require a counter (using the length
property), and it is more readable.

Multidimensional Arrays
A multidimensional array is an array containing one or more arrays.

To create a two-dimensional array, add each array within its own set of curly
braces:

Example
int[][] myNumbers = { {1, 2, 3, 4}, {5, 6, 7} };

myNumbers is now an array with two arrays as its elements.

To access the elements of the myNumbers array, specify two indexes: one
for the array, and one for the element inside that array. This example
accesses the third element (2) in the second array (1) of myNumbers:

Example
int[][] myNumbers = { {1, 2, 3, 4}, {5, 6, 7} };

int x = myNumbers[1][2];

59
System.out.println(x); // Outputs 7

We can also use a for loop inside another for loop to get the elements of
a two-dimensional array (we still have to point to the two indexes):

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

int[][] myNumbers = { {1, 2, 3, 4}, {5, 6, 7} };

for (int i = 0; i < myNumbers.length; ++i) {

for(int j = 0; j < myNumbers[i].length; ++j) {

System.out.println(myNumbers[i][j]);

}
}

Java Methods
A method is a block of code which only runs when it is called.

You can pass data, known as parameters, into a method.

Methods are used to perform certain actions, and they are also known
as functions.

Why use methods? To reuse code: define the code once, and use it many
times.

Create a Method
A method must be declared within a class. It is defined with the name of the
method, followed by parentheses (). Java provides some pre-defined
methods, such as System.out.println(), but you can also create your own
methods to perform certain actions:

Example

60
Create a method inside Main:

public class Main {

static void myMethod() {

// code to be executed

Example Explained
 myMethod() is the name of the method
 static means that the method belongs to the Main class and not an
object of the Main class. You will learn more about objects and how to
access methods through objects later in this tutorial.
 void means that this method does not have a return value. You will
learn more about return values later in this chapter

Call a Method
To call a method in Java, write the method's name followed by two
parentheses () and a semicolon;

In the following example, myMethod() is used to print a text (the action), when
it is called:

Example
Inside main, call the myMethod() method:

public class Main {

static void myMethod() {

System.out.println("I just got executed!");

public static void main(String[] args) {

myMethod();
61
 }

// Outputs "I just got executed!"

A method can also be called multiple times:

Example
public class Main {

static void myMethod() {

System.out.println("I just got executed!");

public static void main(String[] args) {

myMethod();

myMethod();

myMethod();

62
// I just got executed!

// I just got executed!

// I just got executed!

In the next chapter, Method Parameters, you will learn how to pass data
(parameters) into a method.

Java Method Parameters

Parameters and Arguments

Information can be passed to methods as parameter. Parameters act as
variables inside the method.

Parameters are specified after the method name, inside the parentheses. You
can add as many parameters as you want, just separate them with a comma.

The following example has a method that takes a String called fname as
parameter. When the method is called, we pass along a first name, which is
used inside the method to print the full name:

Example
public class Main {

static void myMethod(String fname) {

63
 System.out.println(fname + " Refsnes");

public static void main(String[] args) {

myMethod("Liam");

myMethod("Jenny");

myMethod("Anja");

// Liam Refsnes

// Jenny Refsnes

// Anja Refsnes

When a parameter is passed to the method, it is called an argument. So,

from the example above: fname is a parameter,
while Liam, Jenny and Anja are arguments.

Multiple Parameters
You can have as many parameters as you like:

Example
public class Main {

static void myMethod(String fname, int age) {

System.out.println(fname + " is " + age);

64
 }

public static void main(String[] args) {

myMethod("Liam", 5);

myMethod("Jenny", 8);

myMethod("Anja", 31);

// Liam is 5

// Jenny is 8

// Anja is 31

Note that when you are working with multiple parameters, the method call
must have the same number of arguments as there are parameters, and the
arguments must be passed in the same order.

Return Values
The void keyword, used in the examples above, indicates that the method
should not return a value. If you want the method to return a value, you can
use a primitive data type (such as int, char, etc.) instead of void, and use
the return keyword inside the method:

Example
public class Main {

static int myMethod(int x) {

return 5 + x;

}
65
 public static void main(String[] args) {

System.out.println(myMethod(3));

// Outputs 8 (5 + 3)

This example returns the sum of a method's two parameters:

Example
public class Main {

static int myMethod(int x, int y) {

return x + y;

public static void main(String[] args) {

System.out.println(myMethod(5, 3));

// Outputs 8 (5 + 3)

You can also store the result in a variable (recommended, as it is easier to

read and maintain):

Example
public class Main {
66
 static int myMethod(int x, int y) {

return x + y;

public static void main(String[] args) {

int z = myMethod(5, 3);

System.out.println(z);

// Outputs 8 (5 + 3)

A Method with If...Else

It is common to use if...else statements inside methods:

Example
public class Main {

// Create a checkAge() method with an integer variable called

age

static void checkAge(int age) {

// If age is less than 18, print "access denied"

if (age < 18) {

System.out.println("Access denied - You are not old

enough!");

// If age is greater than, or equal to, 18, print "access

granted"

} else {
67
 System.out.println("Access granted - You are old enough!");

public static void main(String[] args) {

checkAge(20); // Call the checkAge method and pass along an

age of 20

// Outputs "Access granted - You are old enough!"

Java Method Overloading

With method overloading, multiple methods can have the same name with
different parameters:

Example
int myMethod(int x)

float myMethod(float x)

double myMethod(double x, double y)

Consider the following example, which have two methods that add numbers
of different type:

Example
static int plusMethodInt(int x, int y) {

68
 return x + y;

static double plusMethodDouble(double x, double y) {

return x + y;

public static void main(String[] args) {

int myNum1 = plusMethodInt(8, 5);

double myNum2 = plusMethodDouble(4.3, 6.26);

System.out.println("int: " + myNum1);

System.out.println("double: " + myNum2);

Instead of defining two methods that should do the same thing, it is better to
overload one.

In the example below, we overload the plusMethod method to work for

both int and double:

Example
static int plusMethod(int x, int y) {

return x + y;

static double plusMethod(double x, double y) {

return x + y;

public static void main(String[] args) {

69
 int myNum1 = plusMethod(8, 5);

double myNum2 = plusMethod(4.3, 6.26);

System.out.println("int: " + myNum1);

System.out.println("double: " + myNum2);

Note: Multiple methods can have the same name as long as the number
and/or type of parameters are different.

Java Scope

In Java, variables are only accessible inside the region they are created. This
is called scope.

Method Scope
Variables declared directly inside a method are available anywhere in the
method following the line of code in which they were declared:

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

70
 // Code here CANNOT use x

int x = 100;

// Code here can use x

System.out.println(x);

Block Scope
A block of code refers to all of the code between curly braces {}. Variables
declared inside blocks of code are only accessible by the code between the
curly braces, which follows the line in which the variable was declared:

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Code here CANNOT use x

{ // This is a block

71
 // Code here CANNOT use x

int x = 100;

// Code here CAN use x

System.out.println(x);

} // The block ends here

// Code here CANNOT use x

A block of code may exist on its own or it can belong to

an if, while or for statement. In the case of for statements, variables
declared in the statement itself are also available inside the block's scope.

Java Recursion
Recursion is the technique of making a function call itself. This technique
provides a way to break complicated problems down into simple problems
which are easier to solve.

Recursion may be a bit difficult to understand. The best way to figure out how
it works is to experiment with it.

Recursion Example
Adding two numbers together is easy to do, but adding a range of numbers is
more complicated. In the following example, recursion is used to add a range
of numbers together by breaking it down into the simple task of adding two
numbers:

Example
72
Use recursion to add all of the numbers up to 10.

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

int result = sum(10);

System.out.println(result);

public static int sum(int k) {

if (k > 0) {

return k + sum(k - 1);

} else {

return 0;

Example Explained
When the sum() function is called, it adds parameter k to the sum of all
numbers smaller than k and returns the result. When k becomes 0, the
function just returns 0. When running, the program follows these steps:

10 + sum(9)
10 + ( 9 + sum(8) )
10 + ( 9 + ( 8 + sum(7) ) )
...
10 + 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 + sum(0)
10 +9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1+0

Since the function does not call itself when k is 0, the program stops there and
returns the result.

Halting Condition
73
Just as loops can run into the problem of infinite looping, recursive functions
can run into the problem of infinite recursion. Infinite recursion is when the
function never stops calling itself. Every recursive function should have a
halting condition, which is the condition where the function stops calling itself.
In the previous example, the halting condition is when the
parameter k becomes 0.

It is helpful to see a variety of different examples to better understand the

concept. In this example, the function adds a range of numbers between a
start and an end. The halting condition for this recursive function is
when end is not greater than start:

Example
Use recursion to add all of the numbers between 5 to 10.

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

int result = sum(5, 10);

System.out.println(result);

public static int sum(int start, int end) {

if (end > start) {

return end + sum(start, end - 1);

} else {

return end;

74
Java OOP
Java - What is OOP?
OOP stands for Object-Oriented Programming.

Procedural programming is about writing procedures or methods that perform

operations on the data, while object-oriented programming is about creating
objects that contain both data and methods.

Object-oriented programming has several advantages over procedural

programming:

 OOP is faster and easier to execute

 OOP provides a clear structure for the programs
 OOP helps to keep the Java code DRY "Don't Repeat Yourself", and
makes the code easier to maintain, modify and debug
 OOP makes it possible to create full reusable applications with less code
and shorter development time

75
Tip: The "Don't Repeat Yourself" (DRY) principle is about reducing the
repetition of code. You should extract out the codes that are common for the
application, and place them at a single place and reuse them instead of
repeating it.

Java - What are Classes and

Objects?
Classes and objects are the two main aspects of object-oriented
programming.

Look at the following illustration to see the difference between class and
objects:

class
Fruit

objects
Apple

Banana

Mango

76
Another example:

class
Car

objects
Volvo

Audi

Toyota

So, a class is a template for objects, and an object is an instance of a class.

When the individual objects are created, they inherit all the variables and
methods from the class.

Java Classes and Objects

Java Classes/Objects
Java is an object-oriented programming language.

Everything in Java is associated with classes and objects, along with its
attributes and methods. For example: in real life, a car is an object. The car
has attributes, such as weight and color, and methods, such as drive and
brake.

A Class is like an object constructor, or a "blueprint" for creating objects.

77
Create a Class
To create a class, use the keyword class:

Main.java
Create a class named "Main" with a variable x:

public class Main {

int x = 5;

Remember from the Java Syntax chapter that a class should always start with
an uppercase first letter, and that the name of the java file should match the
class name.

Create an Object
In Java, an object is created from a class. We have already created the class
named MyClass, so now we can use this to create objects.

To create an object of MyClass, specify the class name, followed by the object
name, and use the keyword new:

Example
Create an object called "myObj" and print the value of x:

public class Main {

int x = 5;

78
 public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj = new Main();

System.out.println(myObj.x);

Multiple Objects

You can create multiple objects of one class:

Example
Create two objects of Main:

public class Main {

int x = 5;

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj1 = new Main(); // Object 1

Main myObj2 = new Main(); // Object 2

System.out.println(myObj1.x);

System.out.println(myObj2.x);

79
Using Multiple Classes
You can also create an object of a class and access it in another class. This is
often used for better organization of classes (one class has all the attributes
and methods, while the other class holds the main() method (code to be
executed)).

Remember that the name of the java file should match the class name. In this
example, we have created two files in the same directory/folder:

 Main.java
 Second.java

Main.java
public class Main {

int x = 5;

Second.java
class Second {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj = new Main();

System.out.println(myObj.x);

When both files have been compiled:

C:\Users\Your Name>javac Main.java

C:\Users\Your Name>javac Second.java

Run the Second.java file:

C:\Users\Your Name>java Second

And the output will be:

80
Java Class Attributes
In the previous chapter, we used the term "variable" for x in the example (as
shown below). It is actually an attribute of the class. Or you could say that
class attributes are variables within a class:

Example
81
Create a class called "Main" with two attributes: x and y:

public class Main {

int x = 5;

int y = 3;

Another term for class attributes is fields.

Accessing Attributes
You can access attributes by creating an object of the class, and by using the
dot syntax (.):

The following example will create an object of the Main class, with the
name myObj. We use the x attribute on the object to print its value:

Example
Create an object called "myObj" and print the value of x:

public class Main {

int x = 5;

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj = new Main();

System.out.println(myObj.x);

82
Modify Attributes
You can also modify attribute values:

Example
Set the value of x to 40:

public class Main {

int x;

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj = new Main();

myObj.x = 40;

System.out.println(myObj.x);

Or override existing values:

Example
Change the value of x to 25:

public class Main {

int x = 10;

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj = new Main();

myObj.x = 25; // x is now 25

System.out.println(myObj.x);
83
 }

If you don't want the ability to override existing values, declare the attribute
as final:

Example
public class Main {

final int x = 10;

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj = new Main();

myObj.x = 25; // will generate an error: cannot assign a

value to a final variable

System.out.println(myObj.x);

The final keyword is useful when you want a variable to always store the
same value, like PI (3.14159...).

The final keyword is called a "modifier". You will learn more about these in
the Java Modifiers Chapter.

Multiple Objects
If you create multiple objects of one class, you can change the attribute
values in one object, without affecting the attribute values in the other:

Example
Change the value of x to 25 in myObj2, and leave x in myObj1 unchanged:

84
public class Main {

int x = 5;

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj1 = new Main(); // Object 1

Main myObj2 = new Main(); // Object 2

myObj2.x = 25;

System.out.println(myObj1.x); // Outputs 5

System.out.println(myObj2.x); // Outputs 25

Multiple Attributes
You can specify as many attributes as you want:

Example
public class Main {

String fname = "John";

String lname = "Doe";

int age = 24;

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj = new Main();

System.out.println("Name: " + myObj.fname + " " +

myObj.lname);

System.out.println("Age: " + myObj.age);

85
 }

Java Class Methods

You learned from the Java Methods chapter that methods are declared within
a class, and that they are used to perform certain actions:

Example
Create a method named myMethod() in Main:

public class Main {

static void myMethod() {

System.out.println("Hello World!");

myMethod() prints a text (the action), when it is called. To call a method,

write the method's name followed by two parentheses () and a semicolon;

Example
Inside main, call myMethod():

public class Main {

static void myMethod() {

System.out.println("Hello World!");
86
 }

public static void main(String[] args) {

myMethod();

// Outputs "Hello World!"

Static vs. Non-Static

You will often see Java programs that have either static or public attributes
and methods.

In the example above, we created a static method, which means that it can
be accessed without creating an object of the class, unlike public, which can
only be accessed by objects:

Example
An example to demonstrate the differences
between static and public methods:

public class Main {

// Static method

static void myStaticMethod() {

System.out.println("Static methods can be called without

creating objects");

// Public method

87
 public void myPublicMethod() {

System.out.println("Public methods must be called by creating

objects");

// Main method

public static void main(String[] args) {

myStaticMethod(); // Call the static method

// myPublicMethod(); This would compile an error

Main myObj = new Main(); // Create an object of Main

myObj.myPublicMethod(); // Call the public method on the

object

Note: You will learn more about these keywords (called modifiers) in the Java
Modifiers chapter.

Access Methods With an Object

Example
Create a Car object named myCar. Call
the fullThrottle() and speed() methods on the myCar object, and run the
program:

// Create a Main class

public class Main {

88
 // Create a fullThrottle() method

public void fullThrottle() {

System.out.println("The car is going as fast as it can!");

// Create a speed() method and add a parameter

public void speed(int maxSpeed) {

System.out.println("Max speed is: " + maxSpeed);

// Inside main, call the methods on the myCar object

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myCar = new Main(); // Create a myCar object

myCar.fullThrottle(); // Call the fullThrottle() method

myCar.speed(200); // Call the speed() method

// The car is going as fast as it can!

// Max speed is: 200

Example explained
1) We created a custom Main class with the class keyword.

2) We created the fullThrottle() and speed() methods in the Main class.

3) The fullThrottle() method and the speed() method will print out some
text, when they are called.

89
4) The speed() method accepts an int parameter called maxSpeed - we will
use this in 8).

5) In order to use the Main class and its methods, we need to create
an object of the Main Class.

6) Then, go to the main() method, which you know by now is a built-in Java
method that runs your program (any code inside main is executed).

7) By using the new keyword we created an object with the name myCar.

8) Then, we call the fullThrottle() and speed() methods on

the myCar object, and run the program using the name of the object ( myCar),
followed by a dot (.), followed by the name of the method
(fullThrottle(); and speed(200);). Notice that we add an int parameter
of 200 inside the speed() method.

Remember that..
The dot (.) is used to access the object's attributes and methods.

To call a method in Java, write the method name followed by a set of

parentheses (), followed by a semicolon (;).

A class must have a matching filename (Main and Main.java).

Using Multiple Classes

Like we specified in the Classes chapter, it is a good practice to create an
object of a class and access it in another class.

Remember that the name of the java file should match the class name. In this
example, we have created two files in the same directory:

 Main.java
 Second.java

Main.java
public class Main {

public void fullThrottle() {

System.out.println("The car is going as fast as it can!");

90
 }

public void speed(int maxSpeed) {

System.out.println("Max speed is: " + maxSpeed);

Second.java
class Second {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myCar = new Main(); // Create a myCar object

myCar.fullThrottle(); // Call the fullThrottle() method

myCar.speed(200); // Call the speed() method

When both files have been compiled:

C:\Users\Your Name>javac Main.java

C:\Users\Your Name>javac Second.java

Run the Second.java file:

C:\Users\Your Name>java Second

And the output will be:

The car is going as fast as it can!

Max speed is: 200

Java Constructors
91
A constructor in Java is a special method that is used to initialize objects.
The constructor is called when an object of a class is created. It can be used
to set initial values for object attributes:

Example
Create a constructor:

// Create a Main class

public class Main {

int x; // Create a class attribute

// Create a class constructor for the Main class

public Main() {

x = 5; // Set the initial value for the class attribute x

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj = new Main(); // Create an object of class Main

(This will call the constructor)

System.out.println(myObj.x); // Print the value of x

// Outputs 5

Note that the constructor name must match the class name, and it cannot
have a return type (like void).

Also note that the constructor is called when the object is created.

All classes have constructors by default: if you do not create a class

constructor yourself, Java creates one for you. However, then you are not able
to set initial values for object attributes.
92
Constructor Parameters
Constructors can also take parameters, which is used to initialize attributes.

The following example adds an int y parameter to the constructor. Inside the
constructor we set x to y (x=y). When we call the constructor, we pass a
parameter to the constructor (5), which will set the value of x to 5:

Example
public class Main {

int x;

public Main(int y) {

x = y;

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj = new Main(5);

System.out.println(myObj.x);

// Outputs 5

You can have as many parameters as you want:

Example
public class Main {

93
 int modelYear;

String modelName;

public Main(int year, String name) {

modelYear = year;

modelName = name;

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myCar = new Main(1969, "Mustang");

System.out.println(myCar.modelYear + " " + myCar.modelName);

// Outputs 1969 Mustang

Java Modifiers

Modifiers
By now, you are quite familiar with the public keyword that appears in
almost all of our examples:

public class Main

The public keyword is an access modifier, meaning that it is used to set

the access level for classes, attributes, methods and constructors.
94
We divide modifiers into two groups:

 Access Modifiers - controls the access level

 Non-Access Modifiers - do not control access level, but provides other
functionality

Access Modifiers
For classes, you can use either public or default:

Modifier Description

public The class is accessible by any other class

default The class is only accessible by classes in the same package. This is used when you don't sp
modifier. You will learn more about packages in the Packages chapter

For attributes, methods and constructors, you can use the one of the
following:

Modifier Description

public The code is accessible for all classes

private The code is only accessible within the declared class

default The code is only accessible in the same package. This is used when you don't specify a m

95
 You will learn more about packages in the Packages chapter

protected The code is accessible in the same package and subclasses. You will learn more about su
and superclasses in the Inheritance chapter

Non-Access Modifiers
For classes, you can use either final or abstract:

Modifier Description

final The class cannot be inherited by other classes (You will learn more about inheritance in the
chapter)

abstract The class cannot be used to create objects (To access an abstract class, it must be inherited fr
class. You will learn more about inheritance and abstraction in the Inheritance and Abstracti

For attributes and methods, you can use the one of the following:

Modifier Description

final Attributes and methods cannot be overridden/modified

96
 static Attributes and methods belongs to the class, rather than an object

abstract Can only be used in an abstract class, and can only be used on methods. The method does
example abstract void run();. The body is provided by the subclass (inherited from). Yo
about inheritance and abstraction in the Inheritance and Abstraction chapters

transient Attributes and methods are skipped when serializing the object containing them

synchronized Methods can only be accessed by one thread at a time

volatile The value of an attribute is not cached thread-locally, and is always read from the "main m

Final
If you don't want the ability to override existing attribute values, declare
attributes as final:

Example
public class Main {

final int x = 10;

final double PI = 3.14;

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj = new Main();

myObj.x = 50; // will generate an error: cannot assign a

value to a final variable
97
 myObj.PI = 25; // will generate an error: cannot assign a
value to a final variable

System.out.println(myObj.x);

Static
A static method means that it can be accessed without creating an object of
the class, unlike public:

Example
An example to demonstrate the differences
between static and public methods:

public class Main {

// Static method

static void myStaticMethod() {

System.out.println("Static methods can be called without

creating objects");

// Public method

public void myPublicMethod() {

98
 System.out.println("Public methods must be called by creating
objects");

// Main method

public static void main(String[ ] args) {

myStaticMethod(); // Call the static method

// myPublicMethod(); This would output an error

Main myObj = new Main(); // Create an object of Main

myObj.myPublicMethod(); // Call the public method

Abstract
An abstract method belongs to an abstract class, and it does not have a
body. The body is provided by the subclass:

Example
// Code from filename: Main.java

// abstract class
abstract class Main {

public String fname = "John";

public int age = 24;

public abstract void study(); // abstract method

99
}

// Subclass (inherit from Main)

class Student extends Main {

public int graduationYear = 2018;

public void study() { // the body of the abstract method is

provided here

System.out.println("Studying all day long");

// End code from filename: Main.java

// Code from filename: Second.java

class Second {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// create an object of the Student class (which inherits

attributes and methods from Main)

Student myObj = new Student();

System.out.println("Name: " + myObj.fname);

System.out.println("Age: " + myObj.age);

System.out.println("Graduation Year: " +

myObj.graduationYear);

myObj.study(); // call abstract method

}

100
Java Encapsulation
Encapsulation
The meaning of Encapsulation, is to make sure that "sensitive" data is
hidden from users. To achieve this, you must:

 declare class variables/attributes as private

 provide public get and set methods to access and update the value of
a private variable

101
Get and Set
You learned from the previous chapter that private variables can only be
accessed within the same class (an outside class has no access to it).
However, it is possible to access them if we provide
public get and set methods.

The get method returns the variable value, and the set method sets the value.

Syntax for both is that they start with either get or set, followed by the name
of the variable, with the first letter in upper case:

Example
public class Person {

private String name; // private = restricted access

// Getter

public String getName() {

return name;

// Setter

public void setName(String newName) {

this.name = newName;

Example explained
The get method returns the value of the variable name.

102
The set method takes a parameter (newName) and assigns it to
the name variable. The this keyword is used to refer to the current object.

However, as the name variable is declared as private, we cannot access it

from outside this class:

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Person myObj = new Person();

myObj.name = "John"; // error

System.out.println(myObj.name); // error

If the variable was declared as public, we would expect the following output:

John

However, as we try to access a private variable, we get an error:

MyClass.java:4: error: name has private access in Person

myObj.name = "John";
^
MyClass.java:5: error: name has private access in Person
System.out.println(myObj.name);
^
2 errors

Instead, we use the getName() and setName() methods to acccess and update
the variable:

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Person myObj = new Person();

myObj.setName("John"); // Set the value of the name variable

to "John"
103
 System.out.println(myObj.getName());

// Outputs "John"

Why Encapsulation?
 Better control of class attributes and methods
 Class attributes can be made read-only (if you only use
the get method), or write-only (if you only use the set method)
 Flexible: the programmer can change one part of the code without
affecting other parts
 Increased security of data

Java Packages
Java Packages & API
A package in Java is used to group related classes. Think of it as a folder in a
file directory. We use packages to avoid name conflicts, and to write a
better maintainable code. Packages are divided into two categories:

 Built-in Packages (packages from the Java API)

 User-defined Packages (create your own packages)

104
Built-in Packages
The Java API is a library of prewritten classes, that are free to use, included in
the Java Development Environment.

The library contains components for managing input, database programming,

and much much more. The complete list can be found at Oracles
website: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/.

The library is divided into packages and classes. Meaning you can either
import a single class (along with its methods and attributes), or a whole
package that contain all the classes that belong to the specified package.

To use a class or a package from the library, you need to use

the import keyword:

Syntax
import package.name.Class; // Import a single class

import package.name.*; // Import the whole package

Import a Class
If you find a class you want to use, for example, the Scanner class, which is
used to get user input, write the following code:

Example
import java.util.Scanner;

In the example above, java.util is a package, while Scanner is a class of

the java.util package.

To use the Scanner class, create an object of the class and use any of the
available methods found in the Scanner class documentation. In our example,
we will use the nextLine() method, which is used to read a complete line:

Example
Using the Scanner class to get user input:

import java.util.Scanner;
105
class MyClass {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Scanner myObj = new Scanner(System.in);

System.out.println("Enter username");

String userName = myObj.nextLine();

System.out.println("Username is: " + userName);

Import a Package
There are many packages to choose from. In the previous example, we used
the Scanner class from the java.util package. This package also contains
date and time facilities, random-number generator and other utility classes.

To import a whole package, end the sentence with an asterisk sign ( *). The
following example will import ALL the classes in the java.util package:

Example
import java.util.*;

User-defined Packages
To create your own package, you need to understand that Java uses a file
system directory to store them. Just like folders on your computer:

Example
106
└── root
└── mypack
└── MyPackageClass.java

To create a package, use the package keyword:

MyPackageClass.java
package mypack;

class MyPackageClass {

public static void main(String[] args) {

System.out.println("This is my package!");

Save the file as MyPackageClass.java, and compile it:

C:\Users\Your Name>javac MyPackageClass.java

Then compile the package:

C:\Users\Your Name>javac -d . MyPackageClass.java

This forces the compiler to create the "mypack" package.

The -d keyword specifies the destination for where to save the class file. You
can use any directory name, like c:/user (windows), or, if you want to keep the
package within the same directory, you can use the dot sign " .", like in the
example above.

Note: The package name should be written in lower case to avoid conflict
with class names.

When we compiled the package in the example above, a new folder was
created, called "mypack".

To run the MyPackageClass.java file, write the following:

C:\Users\Your Name>java mypack.MyPackageClass

The output will be:

107
This is my package!

Java Inheritance
Java Inheritance (Subclass and
Superclass)
In Java, it is possible to inherit attributes and methods from one class to
another. We group the "inheritance concept" into two categories:

 subclass (child) - the class that inherits from another class

 superclass (parent) - the class being inherited from
108
To inherit from a class, use the extends keyword.

In the example below, the Car class (subclass) inherits the attributes and
methods from the Vehicle class (superclass):

Example
class Vehicle {

protected String brand = "Ford"; // Vehicle attribute

public void honk() { // Vehicle method

System.out.println("Tuut, tuut!");

class Car extends Vehicle {

private String modelName = "Mustang"; // Car attribute

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Create a myCar object

Car myCar = new Car();

// Call the honk() method (from the Vehicle class) on the

myCar object

myCar.honk();

// Display the value of the brand attribute (from the Vehicle

class) and the value of the modelName from the Car class

System.out.println(myCar.brand + " " + myCar.modelName);

109
Did you notice the protected modifier in Vehicle?

We set the brand attribute in Vehicle to a protected access modifier. If it was

set to private, the Car class would not be able to access it.

Why And When To Use "Inheritance"?

- It is useful for code reusability: reuse attributes and methods of an existing
class when you create a new class.

Tip: Also take a look at the next chapter, Polymorphism, which uses inherited
methods to perform different tasks.

The final Keyword

If you don't want other classes to inherit from a class, use the final keyword:

If you try to access a final class, Java will generate an error:

final class Vehicle {

...

class Car extends Vehicle {

...

The output will be something like this:

Main.java:9: error: cannot inherit from final Vehicle

class Main extends Vehicle {
^
1 error)

Java Polymorphism
110
Java Polymorphism
Polymorphism means "many forms", and it occurs when we have many
classes that are related to each other by inheritance.

Like we specified in the previous chapter; Inheritance lets us inherit

attributes and methods from another class. Polymorphism uses those
methods to perform different tasks. This allows us to perform a single action
in different ways.

For example, think of a superclass called Animal that has a method

called animalSound(). Subclasses of Animals could be Pigs, Cats, Dogs, Birds -
And they also have their own implementation of an animal sound (the pig
oinks, and the cat meows, etc.):

Example
class Animal {

public void animalSound() {

System.out.println("The animal makes a sound");

class Pig extends Animal {

public void animalSound() {

System.out.println("The pig says: wee wee");

class Dog extends Animal {

public void animalSound() {

System.out.println("The dog says: bow wow");

111
}

Remember from the Inheritance chapter that we use the extends keyword to
inherit from a class.

Now we can create Pig and Dog objects and call the animalSound() method on
both of them:

Example
class Animal {

public void animalSound() {

System.out.println("The animal makes a sound");

class Pig extends Animal {

public void animalSound() {

System.out.println("The pig says: wee wee");

class Dog extends Animal {

public void animalSound() {

System.out.println("The dog says: bow wow");

class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Animal myAnimal = new Animal(); // Create a Animal object

112
 Animal myPig = new Pig(); // Create a Pig object

Animal myDog = new Dog(); // Create a Dog object

myAnimal.animalSound();

myPig.animalSound();

myDog.animalSound();

Why And When To Use "Inheritance" and "Polymorphism"?

- It is useful for code reusability: reuse attributes and methods of an existing
class when you create a new class.

113
Java Inner Classes
Java Inner Classes

114
In Java, it is also possible to nest classes (a class within a class). The purpose
of nested classes is to group classes that belong together, which makes your
code more readable and maintainable.

To access the inner class, create an object of the outer class, and then create
an object of the inner class:

Example
class OuterClass {

int x = 10;

class InnerClass {

int y = 5;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

OuterClass myOuter = new OuterClass();

OuterClass.InnerClass myInner = myOuter.new InnerClass();

System.out.println(myInner.y + myOuter.x);

// Outputs 15 (5 + 10)

Private Inner Class

115
Unlike a "regular" class, an inner class can be private or protected. If you
don't want outside objects to access the inner class, declare the class
as private:

Example
class OuterClass {

int x = 10;

private class InnerClass {

int y = 5;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

OuterClass myOuter = new OuterClass();

OuterClass.InnerClass myInner = myOuter.new InnerClass();

System.out.println(myInner.y + myOuter.x);

If you try to access a private inner class from an outside class (MyMainClass),
an error occurs:

Main.java:13: error: OuterClass.InnerClass has private access in

OuterClass
OuterClass.InnerClass myInner = myOuter.new InnerClass();
^

Static Inner Class

116
An inner class can also be static, which means that you can access it without
creating an object of the outer class:

Example
class OuterClass {

int x = 10;

static class InnerClass {

int y = 5;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

OuterClass.InnerClass myInner = new OuterClass.InnerClass();

System.out.println(myInner.y);

// Outputs 5

Note: just like static attributes and methods, a static inner class does not
have access to members of the outer class.

Access Outer Class From Inner Class

One advantage of inner classes, is that they can access attributes and
methods of the outer class:

117
Example
class OuterClass {

int x = 10;

class InnerClass {

public int myInnerMethod() {

return x;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

OuterClass myOuter = new OuterClass();

OuterClass.InnerClass myInner = myOuter.new InnerClass();

System.out.println(myInner.myInnerMethod());

// Outputs 10

Java Abstraction
118
Abstract Classes and Methods
Data abstraction is the process of hiding certain details and showing only
essential information to the user.
Abstraction can be achieved with either abstract
classes or interfaces (which you will learn more about in the next chapter).

The abstract keyword is a non-access modifier, used for classes and methods:

 Abstract class: is a restricted class that cannot be used to create

objects (to access it, it must be inherited from another class).

 Abstract method: can only be used in an abstract class, and it does

not have a body. The body is provided by the subclass (inherited from).

An abstract class can have both abstract and regular methods:

abstract class Animal {

public abstract void animalSound();

public void sleep() {

System.out.println("Zzz");

From the example above, it is not possible to create an object of the Animal
class:

Animal myObj = new Animal(); // will generate an error

To access the abstract class, it must be inherited from another class. Let's
convert the Animal class we used in the Polymorphism chapter to an abstract
class:

Remember from the Inheritance chapter that we use the extends keyword to
inherit from a class.

119
Example
// Abstract class

abstract class Animal {

// Abstract method (does not have a body)

public abstract void animalSound();

// Regular method

public void sleep() {

System.out.println("Zzz");

// Subclass (inherit from Animal)

class Pig extends Animal {

public void animalSound() {

// The body of animalSound() is provided here

System.out.println("The pig says: wee wee");

class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Pig myPig = new Pig(); // Create a Pig object

myPig.animalSound();

myPig.sleep();

120
Why And When To Use Abstract Classes and Methods?
To achieve security - hide certain details and only show the important details
of an object.

Note: Abstraction can also be achieved with Interfaces, which you will learn
more about in the next chapter.

121
Java Interface
Interfaces
Another way to achieve abstraction in Java, is with interfaces.

An interface is a completely "abstract class" that is used to group related

methods with empty bodies:

Example
// interface

interface Animal {

public void animalSound(); // interface method (does not have a

body)

public void run(); // interface method (does not have a body)

To access the interface methods, the interface must be "implemented" (kinda

like inherited) by another class with the implements keyword (instead
of extends). The body of the interface method is provided by the "implement"
class:

Example
// Interface

interface Animal {

public void animalSound(); // interface method (does not have a

body)

public void sleep(); // interface method (does not have a body)

// Pig "implements" the Animal interface

class Pig implements Animal {

122
 public void animalSound() {

// The body of animalSound() is provided here

System.out.println("The pig says: wee wee");

public void sleep() {

// The body of sleep() is provided here

System.out.println("Zzz");

class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Pig myPig = new Pig(); // Create a Pig object

myPig.animalSound();

myPig.sleep();

Notes on Interfaces:
 Like abstract classes, interfaces cannot be used to create objects (in the
example above, it is not possible to create an "Animal" object in the
MyMainClass)
 Interface methods do not have a body - the body is provided by the
"implement" class
 On implementation of an interface, you must override all of its methods
 Interface methods are by default abstract and public
 Interface attributes are by default public, static and final
 An interface cannot contain a constructor (as it cannot be used to create
objects)

123
Why And When To Use Interfaces?
1) To achieve security - hide certain details and only show the important
details of an object (interface).

2) Java does not support "multiple inheritance" (a class can only inherit from
one superclass). However, it can be achieved with interfaces, because the
class can implement multiple interfaces. Note: To implement multiple
interfaces, separate them with a comma (see example below).

Multiple Interfaces
To implement multiple interfaces, separate them with a comma:

Example
interface FirstInterface {

public void myMethod(); // interface method

interface SecondInterface {

public void myOtherMethod(); // interface method

class DemoClass implements FirstInterface, SecondInterface {

public void myMethod() {

System.out.println("Some text..");

public void myOtherMethod() {

System.out.println("Some other text...");

}
124
class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

DemoClass myObj = new DemoClass();

myObj.myMethod();

myObj.myOtherMethod();

Java Enums
Enums
An enum is a special "class" that represents a group
of constants (unchangeable variables, like final variables).

To create an enum, use the enum keyword (instead of class or interface), and
separate the constants with a comma. Note that they should be in uppercase
letters:

Example
enum Level {

LOW,

MEDIUM,

HIGH

You can access enum constants with the dot syntax:

Level myVar = Level.MEDIUM;

Enum is short for "enumerations", which means "specifically listed".

125
Enum inside a Class
You can also have an enum inside a class:

Example
public class Main {

enum Level {

LOW,

MEDIUM,

HIGH

public static void main(String[] args) {

Level myVar = Level.MEDIUM;

System.out.println(myVar);

The output will be:

MEDIUM

Enum in a Switch Statement

Enums are often used in switch statements to check for corresponding values:

Example
enum Level {

LOW,

MEDIUM,

126
 HIGH

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Level myVar = Level.MEDIUM;

switch(myVar) {

case LOW:

System.out.println("Low level");

break;

case MEDIUM:

System.out.println("Medium level");

break;

case HIGH:

System.out.println("High level");

break;

The output will be:

Medium level

Loop Through an Enum

127
The enum type has a values() method, which returns an array of all enum
constants. This method is useful when you want to loop through the constants
of an enum:

Example
for (Level myVar : Level.values()) {

System.out.println(myVar);

The output will be:

LOW
MEDIUM
HIGH

Difference between Enums and Classes

An enum can, just like a class, have attributes and methods. The only
difference is that enum constants are public, static and final (unchangeable
- cannot be overridden).

An enum cannot be used to create objects, and it cannot extend other classes
(but it can implement interfaces).

Why And When To Use Enums?

Use enums when you have values that you know aren't going to change, like
month days, days, colors, deck of cards, etc.

Java User Input (Scanner)

Java User Input
The Scanner class is used to get user input, and it is found in
the java.util package.

To use the Scanner class, create an object of the class and use any of the
available methods found in the Scanner class documentation. In our example,
we will use the nextLine() method, which is used to read Strings:

Example
128
import java.util.Scanner; // Import the Scanner class

class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Scanner myObj = new Scanner(System.in); // Create a Scanner

object

System.out.println("Enter username");

String userName = myObj.nextLine(); // Read user input

System.out.println("Username is: " + userName); // Output

user input

Input Types
In the example above, we used the nextLine() method, which is used to
read Strings. To read other types, look at the table below:

Method Description

nextBoolean() Reads a boolean value from the user

nextByte() Reads a byte value from the user

129
 nextDouble() Reads a double value from the user

nextFloat() Reads a float value from the user

nextInt() Reads a int value from the user

nextLine() Reads a String value from the user

nextLong() Reads a long value from the user

nextShort() Reads a short value from the user

In the example below, we use different methods to read data of various types:

Example
import java.util.Scanner;

class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Scanner myObj = new Scanner(System.in);

System.out.println("Enter name, age and salary:");

// String input

String name = myObj.nextLine();

130
 // Numerical input

int age = myObj.nextInt();

double salary = myObj.nextDouble();

// Output input by user

System.out.println("Name: " + name);

System.out.println("Age: " + age);

System.out.println("Salary: " + salary);

Note: If you enter wrong input (e.g. text in a numerical input), you will get an
exception/error message (like "InputMismatchException").

131
Java Date and Time
Java Dates
Java does not have a built-in Date class, but we can import
the java.time package to work with the date and time API. The package
includes many date and time classes. For example:

Class Description

LocalDate Represents a date (year, month, day (yyyy-MM-dd))

LocalTime Represents a time (hour, minute, second and nanoseconds (HH-mm-ss-ns))

LocalDateTime Represents both a date and a time (yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss-ns)

DateTimeFormatter Formatter for displaying and parsing date-time objects

Display Current Date

To display the current date, import the java.time.LocalDate class, and use
its now() method:

Example
import java.time.LocalDate; // import the LocalDate class

132
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

LocalDate myObj = LocalDate.now(); // Create a date object

System.out.println(myObj); // Display the current date

The output will be:

2021-02-16

Display Current Time

To display the current time (hour, minute, second, and nanoseconds), import
the java.time.LocalTime class, and use its now() method:

Example
import java.time.LocalTime; // import the LocalTime class

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

LocalTime myObj = LocalTime.now();

System.out.println(myObj);

The output will be:

03:47:02.950465

133
Display Current Date and Time
To display the current date and time, import
the java.time.LocalDateTime class, and use its now() method:

Example
import java.time.LocalDateTime; // import the LocalDateTime class

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

LocalDateTime myObj = LocalDateTime.now();

System.out.println(myObj);

The output will be:

2021-02-16T03:47:03.005527

Formatting Date and Time

The "T" in the example above is used to separate the date from the time. You
can use the DateTimeFormatter class with the ofPattern() method in the
same package to format or parse date-time objects. The following example
will remove both the "T" and nanoseconds from the date-time:

Example
import java.time.LocalDateTime; // Import the LocalDateTime class

import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter; // Import the

DateTimeFormatter class

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

LocalDateTime myDateObj = LocalDateTime.now();

134
 System.out.println("Before formatting: " + myDateObj);

DateTimeFormatter myFormatObj =
DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss");

String formattedDate = myDateObj.format(myFormatObj);

System.out.println("After formatting: " + formattedDate);

The output will be:

Before Formatting: 2021-02-16T03:47:03.006820

After Formatting: 16-02-2021 03:47:03

The ofPattern() method accepts all sorts of values, if you want to display
the date and time in a different format. For example:

Value Example

yyyy-MM-dd "1988-09-29"

dd/MM/yyyy "29/09/1988"

dd-MMM-yyyy "29-Sep-1988"

E, MMM dd yyyy "Thu, Sep 29 1988"

135
Java ArrayList

The ArrayList class is a resizable array, which can be found in

the java.util package.

The difference between a built-in array and an ArrayList in Java, is that the
size of an array cannot be modified (if you want to add or remove elements
to/from an array, you have to create a new one). While elements can be
added and removed from an ArrayList whenever you want. The syntax is
also slightly different:

Example
Create an ArrayList object called cars that will store strings:

import java.util.ArrayList; // import the ArrayList class

ArrayList<String> cars = new ArrayList<String>(); // Create an

ArrayList object

Add Items
The ArrayList class has many useful methods. For example, to add
elements to the ArrayList, use the add() method:

Example

136
import java.util.ArrayList;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

ArrayList<String> cars = new ArrayList<String>();

cars.add("Volvo");

cars.add("BMW");

cars.add("Ford");

cars.add("Mazda");

System.out.println(cars);

Access an Item
To access an element in the ArrayList, use the get() method and refer to
the index number:

Example
cars.get(0);

Remember: Array indexes start with 0: [0] is the first element. [1] is the
second element, etc.

Change an Item
To modify an element, use the set() method and refer to the index number:

Example
cars.set(0, "Opel");

137
Remove an Item
To remove an element, use the remove() method and refer to the index
number:

Example
cars.remove(0);

To remove all the elements in the ArrayList, use the clear() method:

Example
cars.clear();

ArrayList Size
To find out how many elements an ArrayList have, use the size method:

Example
cars.size();

Loop Through an ArrayList

Loop through the elements of an ArrayList with a for loop, and use
the size() method to specify how many times the loop should run:

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

ArrayList<String> cars = new ArrayList<String>();

cars.add("Volvo");

cars.add("BMW");
138
 cars.add("Ford");

cars.add("Mazda");

for (int i = 0; i < cars.size(); i++) {

System.out.println(cars.get(i));

You can also loop through an ArrayList with the for-each loop:

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

ArrayList<String> cars = new ArrayList<String>();

cars.add("Volvo");

cars.add("BMW");

cars.add("Ford");

cars.add("Mazda");

for (String i : cars) {

System.out.println(i);

Other Types
Elements in an ArrayList are actually objects. In the examples above, we
created elements (objects) of type "String". Remember that a String in Java is
an object (not a primitive type). To use other types, such as int, you must

139
specify an equivalent wrapper class: Integer. For other primitive types,
use: Boolean for boolean, Character for char, Double for double, etc:

Example
Create an ArrayList to store numbers (add elements of type Integer):

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

ArrayList<Integer> myNumbers = new ArrayList<Integer>();

myNumbers.add(10);

myNumbers.add(15);

myNumbers.add(20);

myNumbers.add(25);

for (int i : myNumbers) {

System.out.println(i);

Sort an ArrayList
Another useful class in the java.util package is the Collections class,
which include the sort() method for sorting lists alphabetically or
numerically:

Example
Sort an ArrayList of Strings:

import java.util.ArrayList;

140
import java.util.Collections; // Import the Collections class

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

ArrayList<String> cars = new ArrayList<String>();

cars.add("Volvo");

cars.add("BMW");

cars.add("Ford");

cars.add("Mazda");

Collections.sort(cars); // Sort cars

for (String i : cars) {

System.out.println(i);

Example
Sort an ArrayList of Integers:

import java.util.ArrayList;

import java.util.Collections; // Import the Collections class

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

ArrayList<Integer> myNumbers = new ArrayList<Integer>();

myNumbers.add(33);

myNumbers.add(15);

myNumbers.add(20);

141
 myNumbers.add(34);

myNumbers.add(8);

myNumbers.add(12);

Collections.sort(myNumbers); // Sort myNumbers

for (int i : myNumbers) {

System.out.println(i);

Java LinkedList
Java LinkedList
In the previous chapter, you learned about the ArrayList class.
The LinkedList class is almost identical to the ArrayList:

Example
// Import the LinkedList class

import java.util.LinkedList;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

LinkedList<String> cars = new LinkedList<String>();

cars.add("Volvo");

cars.add("BMW");

cars.add("Ford");
142
 cars.add("Mazda");

System.out.println(cars);

ArrayList vs. LinkedList

The LinkedList class is a collection which can contain many objects of the
same type, just like the ArrayList.

The LinkedList class has all of the same methods as the ArrayList class
because they both implement the List interface. This means that you can
add items, change items, remove items and clear the list in the same way.

However, while the ArrayList class and the LinkedList class can be used
in the same way, they are built very differently.

How the ArrayList works

The ArrayList class has a regular array inside it. When an element is added,
it is placed into the array. If the array is not big enough, a new, larger array is
created to replace the old one and the old one is removed.

How the LinkedList works

The LinkedList stores its items in "containers." The list has a link to the first
container and each container has a link to the next container in the list. To
add an element to the list, the element is placed into a new container and
that container is linked to one of the other containers in the list.

When To Use
It is best to use an ArrayList when:

You want to access random items frequently

143
You only need to add or remove elements at the end of the list

It is best to use a LinkedList when:

You only use the list by looping through it instead of accessing random items

You frequently need to add and remove items from the beginning, middle or
end of the

list

LinkedList Methods
For many cases, the ArrayList is more efficient as it is common to need
access to random items in the list, but the LinkedList provides several
methods to do certain operations more efficiently:

Method Description

addFirst() Adds an item to the beginning of the list.

addLast() Add an item to the end of the list

removeFirst() Remove an item from the beginning of the list.

removeLast() Remove an item from the end of the list

getFirst() Get the item at the beginning of the list

getLast() Get the item at the end of the list

144
Java HashMap
Java HashMap
In the ArrayList chapter, you learned that Arrays store items as an ordered
collection, and you have to access them with an index number ( int type).
A HashMap however, store items in "key/value" pairs, and you can access
them by an index of another type (e.g. a String).

One object is used as a key (index) to another object (value). It can store
different types: String keys and Integer values, or the same type,
like: String keys and String values:

Example
Create a HashMap object called capitalCities that will
store String keys and String values:

import java.util.HashMap; // import the HashMap class

HashMap<String, String> capitalCities = new HashMap<String,

String>();

Add Items
145
The HashMap class has many useful methods. For example, to add items to it,
use the put() method:

Example
// Import the HashMap class

import java.util.HashMap;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Create a HashMap object called capitalCities

HashMap<String, String> capitalCities = new HashMap<String,

String>();

// Add keys and values (Country, City)

capitalCities.put("England", "London");

capitalCities.put("Germany", "Berlin");

capitalCities.put("Norway", "Oslo");

capitalCities.put("USA", "Washington DC");

System.out.println(capitalCities);

Access an Item
To access a value in the HashMap, use the get() method and refer to its key:

Example
capitalCities.get("England");

146
Remove an Item
To remove an item, use the remove() method and refer to the key:

Example
capitalCities.remove("England");

To remove all items, use the clear() method:

Example
capitalCities.clear();

HashMap Size
To find out how many items there are, use the size method:

Example
capitalCities.size();

Loop Through a HashMap

Loop through the items of a HashMap with a for-each loop.

Note: Use the keySet() method if you only want the keys, and use
the values() method if you only want the values:

Example
// Print keys

for (String i : capitalCities.keySet()) {

System.out.println(i);

147
Example
// Print values

for (String i : capitalCities.values()) {

System.out.println(i);

Example
// Print keys and values

for (String i : capitalCities.keySet()) {

System.out.println("key: " + i + " value: " +

capitalCities.get(i));

Other Types
Keys and values in a HashMap are actually objects. In the examples above,
we used objects of type "String". Remember that a String in Java is an object
(not a primitive type). To use other types, such as int, you must specify an
equivalent wrapper class: Integer. For other primitive types,
use: Boolean for boolean, Character for char, Double for double, etc:

Example
Create a HashMap object called people that will
store String keys and Integer values:

// Import the HashMap class

import java.util.HashMap;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

148
 // Create a HashMap object called people

HashMap<String, Integer> people = new HashMap<String,

Integer>();

// Add keys and values (Name, Age)

people.put("John", 32);

people.put("Steve", 30);

people.put("Angie", 33);

for (String i : people.keySet()) {

System.out.println("key: " + i + " value: " +

people.get(i));

Java HashSet
Java HashSet
A HashSet is a collection of items where every item is unique, and it is found
in the java.util package:

Example
Create a HashSet object called cars that will store strings:

import java.util.HashSet; // Import the HashSet class

149
HashSet<String> cars = new HashSet<String>();

Add Items
The HashSet class has many useful methods. For example, to add items to it,
use the add() method:

Example
// Import the HashSet class

import java.util.HashSet;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

HashSet<String> cars = new HashSet<String>();

cars.add("Volvo");

cars.add("BMW");

cars.add("Ford");

cars.add("BMW");

cars.add("Mazda");

System.out.println(cars);

Note: In the example above, even though BMW is added twice it only appears
once in the set because every item in a set has to be unique.

Check If an Item Exists

150
To check whether an item exists in a HashSet, use the contains() method:

Example
cars.contains("Mazda");

Remove an Item
To remove an item, use the remove() method:

Example
cars.remove("Volvo");

To remove all items, use the clear() method:

Example
cars.clear();

HashSet Size
To find out how many items there are, use the size method:

Example
cars.size();

Loop Through a HashSet

Loop through the items of an HashSet with a for-each loop:

Example
151
for (String i : cars) {

System.out.println(i);

Other Types
Items in an HashSet are actually objects. In the examples above, we created
items (objects) of type "String". Remember that a String in Java is an object
(not a primitive type). To use other types, such as int, you must specify an
equivalent wrapper class: Integer. For other primitive types,
use: Boolean for boolean, Character for char, Double for double, etc:

Example
Use a HashSet that stores Integer objects:

import java.util.HashSet;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Create a HashSet object called numbers

HashSet<Integer> numbers = new HashSet<Integer>();

// Add values to the set

numbers.add(4);

numbers.add(7);

numbers.add(8);

// Show which numbers between 1 and 10 are in the set

for(int i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {

152
 if(numbers.contains(i)) {

System.out.println(i + " was found in the set.");

} else {

System.out.println(i + " was not found in the set.");

Java Iterator
Java Iterator
An Iterator is an object that can be used to loop through collections,
like ArrayList and HashSet. It is called an "iterator" because "iterating" is the
technical term for looping.

To use an Iterator, you must import it from the java.util package.

Getting an Iterator
The iterator() method can be used to get an Iterator for any collection:

Example
// Import the ArrayList class and the Iterator class

153
import java.util.ArrayList;

import java.util.Iterator;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Make a collection

ArrayList<String> cars = new ArrayList<String>();

cars.add("Volvo");

cars.add("BMW");

cars.add("Ford");

cars.add("Mazda");

// Get the iterator

Iterator<String> it = cars.iterator();

// Print the first item

System.out.println(it.next());

Looping Through a Collection

To loop through a collection, use the hasNext() and next() methods of
the Iterator:

Example
while(it.hasNext()) {
154
 System.out.println(it.next());

Removing Items from a Collection

Iterators are designed to easily change the collections that they loop through.
The remove() method can remove items from a collection while looping.

Example
Use an iterator to remove numbers less than 10 from a collection:

import java.util.ArrayList;

import java.util.Iterator;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

ArrayList<Integer> numbers = new ArrayList<Integer>();

numbers.add(12);

numbers.add(8);

numbers.add(2);

numbers.add(23);

Iterator<Integer> it = numbers.iterator();

while(it.hasNext()) {

Integer i = it.next();

if(i < 10) {

it.remove();

System.out.println(numbers);
155
 }

Note: Trying to remove items using a for loop or a for-each loop would not
work correctly because the collection is changing size at the same time that
the code is trying to loop.

Java Wrapper Classes

Java Wrapper Classes

Wrapper classes provide a way to use primitive data types ( int, boolean,
etc..) as objects.

The table below shows the primitive type and the equivalent wrapper class:

Primitive Data Type Wrapper Class

byte Byte

short Short

int Integer

long Long

float Float

156
 double Double

boolean Boolean

char Character

Sometimes you must use wrapper classes, for example when working with
Collection objects, such as ArrayList, where primitive types cannot be used
(the list can only store objects):

Example
ArrayList<int> myNumbers = new ArrayList<int>(); // Invalid

ArrayList<Integer> myNumbers = new ArrayList<Integer>(); // Valid

Creating Wrapper Objects

To create a wrapper object, use the wrapper class instead of the primitive
type. To get the value, you can just print the object:

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Integer myInt = 5;

Double myDouble = 5.99;

Character myChar = 'A';

System.out.println(myInt);

System.out.println(myDouble);

System.out.println(myChar);

157
 }

Since you're now working with objects, you can use certain methods to get
information about the specific object.

For example, the following methods are used to get the value associated with
the corresponding wrapper
object: intValue(), byteValue(), shortValue(), longValue(), floatVal
ue(), doubleValue(), charValue(), booleanValue().

This example will output the same result as the example above:

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Integer myInt = 5;

Double myDouble = 5.99;

Character myChar = 'A';

System.out.println(myInt.intValue());

System.out.println(myDouble.doubleValue());

System.out.println(myChar.charValue());

Another useful method is the toString() method, which is used to convert

wrapper objects to strings.

In the following example, we convert an Integer to a String, and use

the length() method of the String class to output the length of the "string":

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

158
 Integer myInt = 100;

String myString = myInt.toString();

System.out.println(myString.length());

Java Exceptions - Try...Catch

Java Exceptions
When executing Java code, different errors can occur: coding errors made by
the programmer, errors due to wrong input, or other unforeseeable things.

When an error occurs, Java will normally stop and generate an error message.
The technical term for this is: Java will throw an exception (throw an error).

Java try and catch

The try statement allows you to define a block of code to be tested for errors
while it is being executed.

The catch statement allows you to define a block of code to be executed, if

an error occurs in the try block.

The try and catch keywords come in pairs:

159
Syntax
try {

// Block of code to try

catch(Exception e) {

// Block of code to handle errors

Consider the following example:

This will generate an error, because myNumbers[10] does not exist.

public class Main {

public static void main(String[ ] args) {

int[] myNumbers = {1, 2, 3};

System.out.println(myNumbers[10]); // error!

The output will be something like this:

Exception in thread "main"

java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 10
at Main.main(Main.java:4)

If an error occurs, we can use try...catch to catch the error and execute
some code to handle it:

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[ ] args) {

try {
160
 int[] myNumbers = {1, 2, 3};

System.out.println(myNumbers[10]);

} catch (Exception e) {

System.out.println("Something went wrong.");

The output will be:

Something went wrong.

Finally
The finally statement lets you execute code, after try...catch,
regardless of the result:

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

try {

int[] myNumbers = {1, 2, 3};

System.out.println(myNumbers[10]);

} catch (Exception e) {

System.out.println("Something went wrong.");

} finally {

System.out.println("The 'try catch' is finished.");

}
161
 }

The output will be:

Something went wrong.

The 'try catch' is finished.

The throw keyword

The throw statement allows you to create a custom error.

The throw statement is used together with an exception type. There are
many exception types available in
Java: ArithmeticException, FileNotFoundException, ArrayIndexOutOfB
oundsException, SecurityException, etc:

Example
Throw an exception if age is below 18 (print "Access denied"). If age is 18 or
older, print "Access granted":

public class Main {

static void checkAge(int age) {

if (age < 18) {

throw new ArithmeticException("Access denied - You must be

at least 18 years old.");

else {

162
 System.out.println("Access granted - You are old enough!");

public static void main(String[] args) {

checkAge(15); // Set age to 15 (which is below 18...)

The output will be:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ArithmeticException: Access

denied - You must be at least 18 years old.
at Main.checkAge(Main.java:4)
at Main.main(Main.java:12)

If age was 20, you would not get an exception:

Example
checkAge(20);

The output will be:

Access granted - You are old enough!

Java Regular Expressions

What is a Regular Expression?

A regular expression is a sequence of characters that forms a search pattern.
When you search for data in a text, you can use this search pattern to
describe what you are searching for.
163
A regular expression can be a single character, or a more complicated
pattern.

Regular expressions can be used to perform all types of text

search and text replace operations.

Java does not have a built-in Regular Expression class, but we can import
the java.util.regex package to work with regular expressions. The
package includes the following classes:

Pattern Class - Defines a pattern (to be used in a search)

Matcher Class - Used to search for the pattern

PatternSyntaxException Class - Indicates syntax error in a regular

expression pattern

Example
Find out if there are any occurrences of the word "w3schools" in a sentence:

import java.util.regex.Matcher;

import java.util.regex.Pattern;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("w3schools",

Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);

Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher("Visit W3Schools!");

boolean matchFound = matcher.find();

if(matchFound) {

System.out.println("Match found");

} else {

System.out.println("Match not found");

164
}

// Outputs Match found

Example Explained
In this example, The word "w3schools" is being searched for in a sentence.

First, the pattern is created using the Pattern.compile() method. The first
parameter indicates which pattern is being searched for and the second
parameter has a flag to indicates that the search should be case-insensitive.
The second parameter is optional.

The matcher() method is used to search for the pattern in a string. It returns
a Matcher object which contains information about the search that was
performed.

The find() method returns true if the pattern was found in the string and
false if it was not found.

Flags
Flags in the compile() method change how the search is performed. Here
are a few of them:

Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE - The case of letters will be ignored when

performing a search.

Pattern.LITERAL - Special characters in the pattern will not have any special
meaning and will be treated as ordinary characters when performing a search.

Pattern.UNICODE_CASE - Use it together with the CASE_INSENSITIVE flag to

also ignore the case of letters outside of the English alphabet

Regular Expression Patterns

The first parameter of the Pattern.compile() method is the pattern. It
describes what is being searched for.

Brackets are used to find a range of characters:

Expression Description

165
 [abc] Find one character from the options between the brackets

[^abc] Find one character NOT between the brackets

[0-9] Find one character from the range 0 to 9

Metacharacters
Metacharacters are characters with a special meaning:

Metacharacter Description

| Find a match for any one of the patterns separated by | as in: cat|do

. Find just one instance of any character

^ Finds a match as the beginning of a string as in: ^Hello

$ Finds a match at the end of the string as in: World$

166
 \d Find a digit

\s Find a whitespace character

\b Find a match at the beginning of a word like this: \bWORD, or at the

this: WORD\b

\uxxxx Find the Unicode character specified by the hexadecimal number xx

Quantifiers
Quantifiers define quantities:

Quantifier Description

n+ Matches any string that contains at least one n

n* Matches any string that contains zero or more occurrences of n

n? Matches any string that contains zero or one occurrences of n

n{x} Matches any string that contains a sequence of X n's

167
 n{x,y} Matches any string that contains a sequence of X to Y n's

n{x,} Matches any string that contains a sequence of at least X n's

Note: If your expression needs to search for one of the special characters you
can use a backslash ( \ ) to escape them. In Java, backslashes in strings need
to be escaped themselves, so two backslashes are needed to escape special
characters. For example, to search for one or more question marks you can
use the following expression: "\\?"

Java Threads
Java Threads
Threads allows a program to operate more efficiently by doing multiple things
at the same time.

Threads can be used to perform complicated tasks in the background without

interrupting the main program.

Creating a Thread
There are two ways to create a thread.

It can be created by extending the Thread class and overriding

its run() method:

Extend Syntax
168
public class Main extends Thread {

public void run() {

System.out.println("This code is running in a thread");

Another way to create a thread is to implement the Runnable interface:

Implement Syntax
public class Main implements Runnable {

public void run() {

System.out.println("This code is running in a thread");

Running Threads
If the class extends the Thread class, the thread can be run by creating an
instance of the class and call its start() method:

Extend Example
public class Main extends Thread {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main thread = new Main();

thread.start();

System.out.println("This code is outside of the thread");

public void run() {

System.out.println("This code is running in a thread");

169
 }

If the class implements the Runnable interface, the thread can be run by
passing an instance of the class to a Thread object's constructor and then
calling the thread's start() method:

Implement Example
public class Main implements Runnable {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main obj = new Main();

Thread thread = new Thread(obj);

thread.start();

System.out.println("This code is outside of the thread");

public void run() {

System.out.println("This code is running in a thread");

Differences between "extending" and "implementing" Threads

The major difference is that when a class extends the Thread class, you
cannot extend any other class, but by implementing the Runnable interface, it
is possible to extend from another class as well, like: class MyClass extends
OtherClass implements Runnable.

Concurrency Problems
Because threads run at the same time as other parts of the program, there is
no way to know in which order the code will run. When the threads and main
program are reading and writing the same variables, the values are
unpredictable. The problems that result from this are called concurrency
problems.

170
Example
A code example where the value of the variable amount is unpredictable:

public class Main extends Thread {

public static int amount = 0;

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main thread = new Main();

thread.start();

System.out.println(amount);

amount++;

System.out.println(amount);

public void run() {

amount++;

To avoid concurrency problems, it is best to share as few attributes between

threads as possible. If attributes need to be shared, one possible solution is to
use the isAlive() method of the thread to check whether the thread has
finished running before using any attributes that the thread can change.

Example
Use isAlive() to prevent concurrency problems:

public class Main extends Thread {

public static int amount = 0;

171
 public static void main(String[] args) {

Main thread = new Main();

thread.start();

// Wait for the thread to finish

while(thread.isAlive()) {

System.out.println("Waiting...");

// Update amount and print its value

System.out.println("Main: " + amount);

amount++;

System.out.println("Main: " + amount);

public void run() {

amount++;

Java Lambda Expressions

Java Lambda Expressions
Lambda Expressions were added in Java 8.

A lambda expression is a short block of code which takes in parameters and

returns a value. Lambda expressions are similar to methods, but they do not
need a name and they can be implemented right in the body of a method.

Syntax
The simplest lambda expression contains a single parameter and an
expression:
172
parameter -> expression

To use more than one parameter, wrap them in parentheses:

(parameter1, parameter2) -> expression

Expressions are limited. They have to immediately return a value, and they
cannot contain variables, assignments or statements such as if or for. In
order to do more complex operations, a code block can be used with curly
braces. If the lambda expression needs to return a value, then the code block
should have a return statement.

(parameter1, parameter2) -> { code block }

Using Lambda Expressions

Lambda expressions are usually passed as parameters to a function:

Example
Use a lamba expression in the ArrayList's forEach() method to print every
item in the list:

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

ArrayList<Integer> numbers = new ArrayList<Integer>();

numbers.add(5);

numbers.add(9);

numbers.add(8);

numbers.add(1);

numbers.forEach( (n) -> { System.out.println(n); } );

173
Lambda expressions can be stored in variables if the variable's type is an
interface which has only one method. The lambda expression should have the
same number of parameters and the same return type as that method. Java
has many of these kinds of interfaces built in, such as the Consumer interface
(found in the java.util package) used by lists.

Example
Use Java's Consumer interface to store a lambda expression in a variable:

import java.util.ArrayList;

import java.util.function.Consumer;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

ArrayList<Integer> numbers = new ArrayList<Integer>();

numbers.add(5);

numbers.add(9);

numbers.add(8);

numbers.add(1);

Consumer<Integer> method = (n) -> { System.out.println(n); };

numbers.forEach( method );

To use a lambda expression in a method, the method should have a

parameter with a single-method interface as its type. Calling the interface's
method will run the lambda expression:

Example
Create a method which takes a lambda expression as a parameter:

interface StringFunction {

String run(String str);

174
}

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

StringFunction exclaim = (s) -> s + "!";

StringFunction ask = (s) -> s + "?";

printFormatted("Hello", exclaim);

printFormatted("Hello", ask);

public static void printFormatted(String str, StringFunction

format) {

String result = format.run(str);

System.out.println(result);

Java Files
File handling is an important part of any application.

Java has several methods for creating, reading, updating, and deleting
files.

Java File Handling

The File class from the java.io package, allows us to work with files.

To use the File class, create an object of the class, and specify the filename
or directory name:

Example
import java.io.File; // Import the File class

175
File myObj = new File("filename.txt"); // Specify the filename

If you don't know what a package is, read our Java Packages Tutorial.

The File class has many useful methods for creating and getting information
about files. For example:

Method Type Description

canRead() Boolean Tests whether the file is readable or not

canWrite() Boolean Tests whether the file is writable or not

createNewFile() Boolean Creates an empty file

delete() Boolean Deletes a file

exists() Boolean Tests whether the file exists

getName() String Returns the name of the file

getAbsolutePath() String Returns the absolute pathname of the file

length() Long Returns the size of the file in bytes

list() String[] Returns an array of the files in the directory

176
 mkdir() Boolean Creates a directory

Java Create and Write To Files

Create a File
To create a file in Java, you can use the createNewFile() method. This
method returns a boolean value: true if the file was successfully created,
and false if the file already exists. Note that the method is enclosed in
a try...catch block. This is necessary because it throws an IOException if
an error occurs (if the file cannot be created for some reason):

Example
import java.io.File; // Import the File class

import java.io.IOException; // Import the IOException class to

handle errors

public class CreateFile {

public static void main(String[] args) {

try {

File myObj = new File("filename.txt");

177
 if (myObj.createNewFile()) {

System.out.println("File created: " + myObj.getName());

} else {

System.out.println("File already exists.");

} catch (IOException e) {

System.out.println("An error occurred.");

e.printStackTrace();

The output will be:

File created: filename.txt

To create a file in a specific directory (requires permission), specify the path

of the file and use double backslashes to escape the " \" character (for
Windows). On Mac and Linux you can just write the path, like:
/Users/name/filename.txt

Example
File myObj = new File("C:\\Users\\MyName\\filename.txt");

Write To a File
In the following example, we use the FileWriter class together with
its write() method to write some text to the file we created in the example
above. Note that when you are done writing to the file, you should close it
with the close() method:

Example
import java.io.FileWriter; // Import the FileWriter class
178
import java.io.IOException; // Import the IOException class to
handle errors

public class WriteToFile {

public static void main(String[] args) {

try {

FileWriter myWriter = new FileWriter("filename.txt");

myWriter.write("Files in Java might be tricky, but it is

fun enough!");

myWriter.close();

System.out.println("Successfully wrote to the file.");

} catch (IOException e) {

System.out.println("An error occurred.");

e.printStackTrace();

The output will be:

Successfully wrote to the file.

Java Read Files

Read a File
In the previous chapter, you learned how to create and write to a file.

In the following example, we use the Scanner class to read the contents of
the text file we created in the previous chapter:

Example
import java.io.File; // Import the File class

179
import java.io.FileNotFoundException; // Import this class to
handle errors

import java.util.Scanner; // Import the Scanner class to read

text files

public class ReadFile {

public static void main(String[] args) {

try {

File myObj = new File("filename.txt");

Scanner myReader = new Scanner(myObj);

while (myReader.hasNextLine()) {

String data = myReader.nextLine();

System.out.println(data);

myReader.close();

} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {

System.out.println("An error occurred.");

e.printStackTrace();

The output will be:

Files in Java might be tricky, but it is fun enough!

Get File Information

To get more information about a file, use any of the File methods:

180
Example
import java.io.File; // Import the File class

public class GetFileInfo {

public static void main(String[] args) {

File myObj = new File("filename.txt");

if (myObj.exists()) {

System.out.println("File name: " + myObj.getName());

System.out.println("Absolute path: " +

myObj.getAbsolutePath());

System.out.println("Writeable: " + myObj.canWrite());

System.out.println("Readable " + myObj.canRead());

System.out.println("File size in bytes " + myObj.length());

} else {

System.out.println("The file does not exist.");

The output will be:

File name: filename.txt

Absolute path: C:\Users\MyName\filename.txt
Writeable: true
Readable: true
File size in bytes: 0
Note: There are many available classes in the Java API that can be used to
read and write files in Java: FileReader, BufferedReader, Files,
Scanner, FileInputStream, FileWriter, BufferedWriter,
FileOutputStream, etc. Which one to use depends on the Java version
you're working with and whether you need to read bytes or characters, and
the size of the file/lines etc.

181
Java Delete Files
Delete a File
To delete a file in Java, use the delete() method:

Example
import java.io.File; // Import the File class

public class DeleteFile {

public static void main(String[] args) {

File myObj = new File("filename.txt");

if (myObj.delete()) {

System.out.println("Deleted the file: " + myObj.getName());

} else {

System.out.println("Failed to delete the file.");

The output will be:

Deleted the file: filename.txt

Delete a Folder
You can also delete a folder. However, it must be empty:

Example
import java.io.File;

182
public class DeleteFolder {

public static void main(String[] args) {

File myObj = new File("C:\\Users\\MyName\\Test");

if (myObj.delete()) {

System.out.println("Deleted the folder: " +

myObj.getName());

} else {

System.out.println("Failed to delete the folder.");

The output will be:

Deleted the folder: Test

Java How To Add Two Numbers

Add Two Numbers

Learn how to add two numbers in Java:

183
Example
int x = 5;

int y = 6;

int sum = x + y;

System.out.println(sum); // Print the sum of x + y

Add Two Numbers with User Input

Learn how to add two numbers with user input:

Example
import java.util.Scanner; // Import the Scanner class

class MyClass {

public static void main(String[] args) {

int x, y, sum;

Scanner myObj = new Scanner(System.in); // Create a Scanner

object

System.out.println("Type a number:");

x = myObj.nextInt(); // Read user input

System.out.println("Type another number:");

y = myObj.nextInt(); // Read user input

sum = x + y; // Calculate the sum of x + y

System.out.println("Sum is: " + sum); // Print the sum

184
}

Java Keywords
Java Reserved Keywords
Java has a set of keywords that are reserved words that cannot be used as
variables, methods, classes, or any other identifiers:

Keyword Description

abstract A non-access modifier. Used for classes and methods: An abstract clas
to create objects (to access it, it must be inherited from another class)
method can only be used in an abstract class, and it does not have a b
provided by the subclass (inherited from)

assert For debugging

boolean A data type that can only store true and false values

break Breaks out of a loop or a switch block

byte A data type that can store whole numbers from -128 and 127

case Marks a block of code in switch statements

catch Catches exceptions generated by try statements

185
char A data type that is used to store a single character

class Defines a class

continue Continues to the next iteration of a loop

const Defines a constant. Not in use - use final instead

default Specifies the default block of code in a switch statement

do Used together with while to create a do-while loop

double A data type that can store whole numbers from 1.7e−308 to 1.7e+308

else Used in conditional statements

enum Declares an enumerated (unchangeable) type

exports Exports a package with a module. New in Java 9

extends Extends a class (indicates that a class is inherited from another class)

final A non-access modifier used for classes, attributes and methods, which

186
 changeable (impossible to inherit or override)

finally Used with exceptions, a block of code that will be executed no matter
exception or not

float A data type that can store whole numbers from 3.4e−038 to 3.4e+038

for Create a for loop

goto Not in use, and has no function

if Makes a conditional statement

implements Implements an interface

import Used to import a package, class or interface

instanceof Checks whether an object is an instance of a specific class or an interf

int A data type that can store whole numbers from -2147483648 to 21474

interface Used to declare a special type of class that only contains abstract met

long A data type that can store whole numbers from -92233720368547758

187
 9223372036854775808

module Declares a module. New in Java 9

native Specifies that a method is not implemented in the same Java source fi
language)

new Creates new objects

package Declares a package

private An access modifier used for attributes, methods and constructors, mak
accessible within the declared class

protected An access modifier used for attributes, methods and constructors, mak
accessible in the same package and subclasses

public An access modifier used for classes, attributes, methods and construct
accessible by any other class

requires Specifies required libraries inside a module. New in Java 9

return Finished the execution of a method, and can be used to return a value

short A data type that can store whole numbers from -32768 to 32767

188
static A non-access modifier used for methods and attributes. Static method
be accessed without creating an object of a class

strictfp Restrict the precision and rounding of floating point calculations

super Refers to superclass (parent) objects

switch Selects one of many code blocks to be executed

synchronized A non-access modifier, which specifies that methods can only be acces
thread at a time

this Refers to the current object in a method or constructor

throw Creates a custom error

throws Indicates what exceptions may be thrown by a method

transient A non-accesss modifier, which specifies that an attribute is not part of

persistent state

try Creates a try...catch statement

var Declares a variable. New in Java 10

189
 void Specifies that a method should not have a return value

volatile Indicates that an attribute is not cached thread-locally, and is always r

"main memory"

while Creates a while loop

Note: true, false, and null are not keywords, but they are literals and
reserved words that cannot be used as identifiers.

Summary of important topics in Java

Java Examples
190
Java Syntax
Create a simple “HELLO World” program

Java Syntax
We created a Java file called Main.java, and we used the following code to
print "Hello World" to the screen:

MyClass.java

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

System.out.println("Hello World");

Example explained
Every line of code that runs in Java must be inside a class. In our example,
we named the class Main. A class should always start with an uppercase first
letter.

Note: Java is case-sensitive: "MyClass" and "myclass" has different meaning.

The name of the java file must match the class name. When saving the file,
save it using the class name and add ".java" to the end of the filename. To
run the example above on your computer, make sure that Java is properly
installed: The output should be:

Hello World

The main Method

The main() method is required and you will see it in every Java program:

public static void main(String[] args)

191
Any code inside the main() method will be executed. You don't have to
understand the keywords before and after main. You will get to know them bit
by bit while reading this tutorial.

For now, just remember that every Java program has a class name which
must match the filename, and that every program must contain
the main() method.

System.out.println()
Inside the main() method, we can use the println() method to print a line
of text to the screen:

public static void main(String[] args) {

System.out.println("Hello World");

Note: The curly braces {} marks the beginning and the end of a block of
code.

Note: Each code statement must end with a semicolon.

Java Comments

Java Comments
Comments can be used to explain Java code, and to make it more readable. It
can also be used to prevent execution when testing alternative code.

Single-line comments start with two forward slashes ( //).

192
Any text between // and the end of the line is ignored by Java (will not be
executed).

This example uses a single-line comment before a line of code:

Example
// This is a comment

System.out.println("Hello World");

This example uses a single-line comment at the end of a line of code:

Example
System.out.println("Hello World"); // This is a comment

Java Multi-line Comments

Multi-line comments start with /* and ends with */.

Any text between /* and */ will be ignored by Java.

This example uses a multi-line comment (a comment block) to explain the

code:

Example
/* The code below will print the words Hello World

to the screen, and it is amazing */

System.out.println("Hello World");

Single or multi-line comments?

It is up to you which you want to use. Normally, we use // for short
comments, and /* */ for longer.

193
Java Variables
Variables are containers for storing data values.

In Java, there are different types of variables, for example:

 String - stores text, such as "Hello". String values are surrounded by

double quotes
 int - stores integers (whole numbers), without decimals, such as 123 or
-123
 float - stores floating point numbers, with decimals, such as 19.99 or -
19.99
 char - stores single characters, such as 'a' or 'B'. Char values are
surrounded by single quotes
 boolean - stores values with two states: true or false

Declaring (Creating) Variables

To create a variable, you must specify the type and assign it a value:

Syntax
type variable = value;

Where type is one of Java's types (such as int or String), and variable is the
name of the variable (such as x or name). The equal sign is used to assign
values to the variable.

To create a variable that should store text, look at the following example:

Example
Create a variable called name of type String and assign it the value "John":

String name = "John";

System.out.println(name);

To create a variable that should store a number, look at the following

example:

Example
Create a variable called myNum of type int and assign it the value 15:
194
int myNum = 15;

System.out.println(myNum);

You can also declare a variable without assigning the value, and assign the
value later:

Example
int myNum;

myNum = 15;

System.out.println(myNum);

Note that if you assign a new value to an existing variable, it will overwrite the
previous value:

Example
Change the value of myNum from 15 to 20:

int myNum = 15;

myNum = 20; // myNum is now 20

System.out.println(myNum);

Final Variables
However, you can add the final keyword if you don't want others (or
yourself) to overwrite existing values (this will declare the variable as "final"
or "constant", which means unchangeable and read-only):

Example
final int myNum = 15;

myNum = 20; // will generate an error: cannot assign a value to

a final variable

Other Types
195
A demonstration of how to declare variables of other types:

Example
int myNum = 5;

float myFloatNum = 5.99f;

char myLetter = 'D';

boolean myBool = true;

String myText = "Hello";

Display Variables
The println() method is often used to display variables.

To combine both text and a variable, use the + character:

Example
String name = "John";

System.out.println("Hello " + name);

You can also use the + character to add a variable to another variable:

Example
String firstName = "John ";

String lastName = "Doe";

String fullName = firstName + lastName;

System.out.println(fullName);

For numeric values, the + character works as a mathematical operator (notice

that we use int (integer) variables here):

Example
196
int x = 5;

int y = 6;

System.out.println(x + y); // Print the value of x + y

From the example above, you can expect:

 x stores the value 5

 y stores the value 6
 Then we use the println() method to display the value of x + y,
which is 11

Declare Many Variables

To declare more than one variable of the same type, use a comma-separated
list:

Example
int x = 5, y = 6, z = 50;

System.out.println(x + y + z);

Java Identifiers
All Java variables must be identified with unique names.

These unique names are called identifiers.

Identifiers can be short names (like x and y) or more descriptive names (age,
sum, totalVolume).

Note: It is recommended to use descriptive names in order to create

understandable and maintainable code:

Example
// Good

int minutesPerHour = 60;

197
// OK, but not so easy to understand what m actually is

int m = 60;

The general rules for constructing names for variables (unique identifiers) are:

 Names can contain letters, digits, underscores, and dollar signs

 Names must begin with a letter
 Names should start with a lowercase letter and it cannot contain
whitespace
 Names can also begin with $ and _ (but we will not use it in this tutorial)
 Names are case sensitive ("myVar" and "myvar" are different variables)
 Reserved words (like Java keywords, such as int or boolean) cannot
be used as names

Java Data Types

As explained in the previous chapter, a variable in Java must be a specified
data type:

Example
int myNum = 5; // Integer (whole number)

float myFloatNum = 5.99f; // Floating point number

char myLetter = 'D'; // Character

198
boolean myBool = true; // Boolean

String myText = "Hello"; // String

Data types are divided into two groups:

 Primitive data types -

includes byte, short, int, long, float, double, boolean and char
 Non-primitive data types - such as String, Arrays and Classes (you will
learn more about these in a later chapter)

Primitive Data Types

A primitive data type specifies the size and type of variable values, and it has
no additional methods.

There are eight primitive data types in Java:

Data Type Size Description

byte 1 byte Stores whole numbers from -128 to 127

short 2 bytes Stores whole numbers from -32,768 to 32,767

int 4 bytes Stores whole numbers from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647

long 8 bytes Stores whole numbers from -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to

9,223,372,036,854,775,807

float 4 bytes Stores fractional numbers. Sufficient for storing 6 to 7 decimal

199
 double 8 bytes Stores fractional numbers. Sufficient for storing 15 decimal di

boolean 1 bit Stores true or false values

char 2 bytes Stores a single character/letter or ASCII values

Numbers
Primitive number types are divided into two groups:

Integer types stores whole numbers, positive or negative (such as 123 or -

456), without decimals. Valid types are byte, short, int and long. Which type
you should use, depends on the numeric value.

Floating point types represents numbers with a fractional part, containing

one or more decimals. There are two types: float and double.

Even though there are many numeric types in Java, the most used for
numbers are int (for whole numbers) and double (for floating point numbers).
However, we will describe them all as you continue to read.

Integer Types
Byte
The byte data type can store whole numbers from -128 to 127. This can be
used instead of int or other integer types to save memory when you are
certain that the value will be within -128 and 127:

Example
byte myNum = 100;

System.out.println(myNum);

Short
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The short data type can store whole numbers from -32768 to 32767:

Example
short myNum = 5000;

System.out.println(myNum);

Int
The int data type can store whole numbers from -2147483648 to
2147483647. In general, and in our tutorial, the int data type is the preferred
data type when we create variables with a numeric value.

Example
int myNum = 100000;

System.out.println(myNum);

Long
The long data type can store whole numbers from -9223372036854775808 to
9223372036854775807. This is used when int is not large enough to store the
value. Note that you should end the value with an "L":

Example
long myNum = 15000000000L;

System.out.println(myNum);

Floating Point Types

You should use a floating point type whenever you need a number with a
decimal, such as 9.99 or 3.14515.

Float

201
The float data type can store fractional numbers from 3.4e−038 to
3.4e+038. Note that you should end the value with an "f":

Example
float myNum = 5.75f;

System.out.println(myNum);

Double
The double data type can store fractional numbers from 1.7e−308 to
1.7e+308. Note that you should end the value with a "d":

Example
double myNum = 19.99d;

System.out.println(myNum);

Use float or double?

The precision of a floating point value indicates how many digits the value
can have after the decimal point. The precision of float is only six or seven
decimal digits, while double variables have a precision of about 15 digits.
Therefore it is safer to use double for most calculations.

Scientific Numbers
A floating point number can also be a scientific number with an "e" to indicate
the power of 10:

Example
float f1 = 35e3f;

double d1 = 12E4d;

System.out.println(f1);

System.out.println(d1);

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Booleans
A boolean data type is declared with the boolean keyword and can only take
the values true or false:

Example
boolean isJavaFun = true;

boolean isFishTasty = false;

System.out.println(isJavaFun); // Outputs true

System.out.println(isFishTasty); // Outputs false

Boolean values are mostly used for conditional testing, which you will learn
more about in a later chapter.

Characters
The char data type is used to store a single character. The character must be
surrounded by single quotes, like 'A' or 'c':

Example
char myGrade = 'B';

System.out.println(myGrade);

Alternatively, you can use ASCII values to display certain characters:

Example
char a = 65, b = 66, c = 67;

System.out.println(a);

System.out.println(b);

System.out.println(c);

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Strings
The String data type is used to store a sequence of characters (text). String
values must be surrounded by double quotes:

Example
String greeting = "Hello World";

System.out.println(greeting);

The String type is so much used and integrated in Java, that some call it "the
special ninth type".

A String in Java is actually a non-primitive data type, because it refers to an

object. The String object has methods that are used to perform certain
operations on strings. Don't worry if you don't understand the term
"object" just yet. We will learn more about strings and objects in a later
chapter.

Non-Primitive Data Types

Non-primitive data types are called reference types because they refer to
objects.

The main difference between primitive and non-primitive data types are:

 Primitive types are predefined (already defined) in Java. Non-primitive

types are created by the programmer and is not defined by Java
(except for String).
 Non-primitive types can be used to call methods to perform certain
operations, while primitive types cannot.
 A primitive type has always a value, while non-primitive types can
be null.

204
  A primitive type starts with a lowercase letter, while non-primitive types
starts with an uppercase letter.
 The size of a primitive type depends on the data type, while non-
primitive types have all the same size.

Examples of non-primitive types are Strings, Arrays, Classes, Interface, etc.

You will learn more about these in a later chapter.

Java Operators
Operators are used to perform operations on variables and values.

In the example below, we use the + operator to add together two values:

Example
int x = 100 + 50;

Although the + operator is often used to add together two values, like in the
example above, it can also be used to add together a variable and a value, or
a variable and another variable:

Example
int sum1 = 100 + 50; // 150 (100 + 50)

int sum2 = sum1 + 250; // 400 (150 + 250)

int sum3 = sum2 + sum2; // 800 (400 + 400)

Java divides the operators into the following groups:

 Arithmetic operators
 Assignment operators
 Comparison operators
 Logical operators
 Bitwise operators

205
Arithmetic Operators
Arithmetic operators are used to perform common mathematical operations.

Operator Name Description Example

+ Addition Adds together two values x+y

- Subtraction Subtracts one value from another x-y

* Multiplication Multiplies two values x*y

/ Division Divides one value by another x/y

% Modulus Returns the division remainder x%y

++ Increment Increases the value of a variable by 1 ++x

-- Decrement Decreases the value of a variable by 1 --x

Java Assignment Operators

Assignment operators are used to assign values to variables.

In the example below, we use the assignment operator (=) to assign the
value 10 to a variable called x:

206
Example
int x = 10;

The addition assignment operator (+=) adds a value to a variable:

Example
int x = 10;

x += 5;

A list of all assignment operators:

Operator Example Same As

= x=5 x=5

+= x += 3 x=x+3

-= x -= 3 x=x-3

*= x *= 3 x=x*3

/= x /= 3 x=x/3

207
 %= x %= 3 x=x%3

&= x &= 3 x=x&3

|= x |= 3 x=x|3

^= x ^= 3 x=x^3

>>= x >>= 3 x = x >> 3

<<= x <<= 3 x = x << 3

Java Comparison Operators

Comparison operators are used to compare two values:

Operator Name Example

== Equal to x == y

208
 != Not equal x != y

> Greater than x>y

< Less than x<y

>= Greater than or equal to x >= y

<= Less than or equal to x <= y

Java Logical Operators

Logical operators are used to determine the logic between variables or
values:

Operator Name Description Example

&& Logical and Returns true if both statements are true x < 5 && x <

|| Logical or Returns true if one of the statements is true x < 5 || x < 4

! Logical not Reverse the result, returns false if the result is !(x < 5 && x <
true

209
Java Strings
Strings are used for storing text.

A String variable contains a collection of characters surrounded by double

quotes:

Example
Create a variable of type String and assign it a value:

String greeting = "Hello";

String Length
A String in Java is actually an object, which contain methods that can perform
certain operations on strings. For example, the length of a string can be found
with the length() method:

Example
String txt = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";

System.out.println("The length of the txt string is: " +

txt.length());

More String Methods

There are many string methods available, for
example toUpperCase() and toLowerCase():

Example
String txt = "Hello World";

System.out.println(txt.toUpperCase()); // Outputs "HELLO WORLD"

System.out.println(txt.toLowerCase()); // Outputs "hello world"

Finding a Character in a String

210
The indexOf() method returns the index (the position) of the first
occurrence of a specified text in a string (including whitespace):

Example
String txt = "Please locate where 'locate' occurs!";

System.out.println(txt.indexOf("locate")); // Outputs 7

Java counts positions from zero.

0 is the first position in a string, 1 is the second, 2 is the third ...

String Concatenation
The + operator can be used between strings to combine them. This is
called concatenation:

Example
String firstName = "John";

String lastName = "Doe";

System.out.println(firstName + " " + lastName);

Note that we have added an empty text (" ") to create a space between
firstName and lastName on print.

You can also use the concat() method to concatenate two strings:

Example
211
String firstName = "John ";

String lastName = "Doe";

System.out.println(firstName.concat(lastName));

Special Characters
Because strings must be written within quotes, Java will misunderstand this
string, and generate an error:

String txt = "We are the so-called "Vikings" from the north.";

The solution to avoid this problem, is to use the backslash escape

character.

The backslash (\) escape character turns special characters into string
characters:

Escape character Result Description

\' ' Single quote

\" " Double quote

\\ \ Backslash

The sequence \" inserts a double quote in a string:

Example
String txt = "We are the so-called \"Vikings\" from the north.";

The sequence \' inserts a single quote in a string:

212
Example
String txt = "It\'s alright.";

The sequence \\ inserts a single backslash in a string:

Example
String txt = "The character \\ is called backslash.";

Six other escape sequences are valid in Java:

Code Result

\n New Line

\r Carriage Return

\t Tab

\b Backspace

\f Form Feed

Adding Numbers and Strings

WARNING!

Java uses the + operator for both addition and concatenation.

213
Numbers are added. Strings are concatenated.

If you add two numbers, the result will be a number:

Example
int x = 10;

int y = 20;

int z = x + y; // z will be 30 (an integer/number)

If you add two strings, the result will be a string concatenation:

Example
String x = "10";

String y = "20";

String z = x + y; // z will be 1020 (a String)

If you add a number and a string, the result will be a string concatenation:

Example
String x = "10";

int y = 20;

String z = x + y; // z will be 1020 (a String)

Java If ... Else

214
Java Conditions and If Statements
Java supports the usual logical conditions from mathematics:

 Less than: a < b

 Less than or equal to: a <= b
 Greater than: a > b
 Greater than or equal to: a >= b
 Equal to a == b
 Not Equal to: a != b

You can use these conditions to perform different actions for different
decisions.

Java has the following conditional statements:

 Use if to specify a block of code to be executed, if a specified condition

is true
 Use else to specify a block of code to be executed, if the same
condition is false
 Use else if to specify a new condition to test, if the first condition is
false
 Use switch to specify many alternative blocks of code to be executed

The if Statement
Use the if statement to specify a block of Java code to be executed if a
condition is true.

Syntax
if (condition) {

// block of code to be executed if the condition is true

Note that if is in lowercase letters. Uppercase letters (If or IF) will generate an
error.

In the example below, we test two values to find out if 20 is greater than 18. If
the condition is true, print some text:

Example
215
if (20 > 18) {

System.out.println("20 is greater than 18");

We can also test variables:

Example
int x = 20;

int y = 18;

if (x > y) {

System.out.println("x is greater than y");

Example explained
In the example above we use two variables, x and y, to test whether x is
greater than y (using the > operator). As x is 20, and y is 18, and we know
that 20 is greater than 18, we print to the screen that "x is greater than y".

The else Statement

Use the else statement to specify a block of code to be executed if the
condition is false.

Syntax
if (condition) {

// block of code to be executed if the condition is true

} else {

// block of code to be executed if the condition is false

Example
int time = 20;
216
if (time < 18) {

System.out.println("Good day.");

} else {

System.out.println("Good evening.");

// Outputs "Good evening."

Example explained
In the example above, time (20) is greater than 18, so the condition is false.
Because of this, we move on to the else condition and print to the screen
"Good evening". If the time was less than 18, the program would print "Good
day".

The else if Statement

Use the else if statement to specify a new condition if the first condition
is false.

Syntax
if (condition1) {

// block of code to be executed if condition1 is true

} else if (condition2) {

// block of code to be executed if the condition1 is false and

condition2 is true
217
} else {

// block of code to be executed if the condition1 is false and

condition2 is false

Example
int time = 22;

if (time < 10) {

System.out.println("Good morning.");

} else if (time < 20) {

System.out.println("Good day.");

} else {

System.out.println("Good evening.");

// Outputs "Good evening."

Example explained
In the example above, time (22) is greater than 10, so the first
condition is false. The next condition, in the else if statement, is also false,
so we move on to the else condition since condition1 and condition2 is
both false - and print to the screen "Good evening".

However, if the time was 14, our program would print "Good day."

Short Hand If...Else (Ternary Operator)

There is also a short-hand if else, which is known as the ternary
operator because it consists of three operands. It can be used to replace
multiple lines of code with a single line. It is often used to replace simple if
else statements:

Syntax
218
variable = (condition) ? expressionTrue : expressionFalse;

Instead of writing:

Example
int time = 20;

if (time < 18) {

System.out.println("Good day.");

} else {

System.out.println("Good evening.");

You can simply write:

Example
int time = 20;

String result = (time < 18) ? "Good day." : "Good evening.";

System.out.println(result);

Java Switch
Java Switch Statements
Use the switch statement to select one of many code blocks to be executed.

219
Syntax
switch(expression) {

case x:

// code block

break;

case y:

// code block

break;

default:

// code block

This is how it works:

 The switch expression is evaluated once.

 The value of the expression is compared with the values of each case.
 If there is a match, the associated block of code is executed.
 The break and default keywords are optional, and will be described
later in this chapter

The example below uses the weekday number to calculate the weekday
name:

Example
int day = 4;

switch (day) {

case 1:

System.out.println("Monday");

break;

case 2:

System.out.println("Tuesday");

break;
220
 case 3:

System.out.println("Wednesday");

break;

case 4:

System.out.println("Thursday");

break;

case 5:

System.out.println("Friday");

break;

case 6:

System.out.println("Saturday");

break;

case 7:

System.out.println("Sunday");

break;

// Outputs "Thursday" (day 4)

The break Keyword

When Java reaches a break keyword, it breaks out of the switch block.

This will stop the execution of more code and case testing inside the block.

When a match is found, and the job is done, it's time for a break. There is no
need for more testing.

A break can save a lot of execution time because it "ignores" the execution of
all the rest of the code in the switch block.

The default Keyword

221
The default keyword specifies some code to run if there is no case match:

Example
int day = 4;

switch (day) {

case 6:

System.out.println("Today is Saturday");

break;

case 7:

System.out.println("Today is Sunday");

break;

default:

System.out.println("Looking forward to the Weekend");

// Outputs "Looking forward to the Weekend"

Note that if the default statement is used as the last statement in a switch
block, it does not need a break.

Java While Loop

Loops
Loops can execute a block of code as long as a specified condition is reached.

222
Loops are handy because they save time, reduce errors, and they make code
more readable.

Java While Loop

The while loop loops through a block of code as long as a specified condition
is true:

Syntax
while (condition) {

// code block to be executed

In the example below, the code in the loop will run, over and over again, as
long as a variable (i) is less than 5:

Example
int i = 0;

while (i < 5) {

System.out.println(i);

i++;

Note: Do not forget to increase the variable used in the condition, otherwise
the loop will never end!

The Do/While Loop

The do/while loop is a variant of the while loop. This loop will execute the
code block once, before checking if the condition is true, then it will repeat
the loop as long as the condition is true.

Syntax
do {

// code block to be executed

223
while (condition);

The example below uses a do/while loop. The loop will always be executed
at least once, even if the condition is false, because the code block is
executed before the condition is tested:

Example
int i = 0;
do {

System.out.println(i);

i++;

while (i < 5);

Do not forget to increase the variable used in the condition, otherwise the
loop will never end!

Java Methods
A method is a block of code which only runs when it is called.

You can pass data, known as parameters, into a method.

224
Methods are used to perform certain actions, and they are also known
as functions.

Why use methods? To reuse code: define the code once, and use it many
times.

Create a Method
A method must be declared within a class. It is defined with the name of the
method, followed by parentheses (). Java provides some pre-defined
methods, such as System.out.println(), but you can also create your own
methods to perform certain actions:

Example
Create a method inside Main:

public class Main {

static void myMethod() {

// code to be executed

Example Explained
 myMethod() is the name of the method
 static means that the method belongs to the Main class and not an
object of the Main class. You will learn more about objects and how to
access methods through objects later in this tutorial.
 void means that this method does not have a return value. You will
learn more about return values later in this chapter

Call a Method
To call a method in Java, write the method's name followed by two
parentheses () and a semicolon;

In the following example, myMethod() is used to print a text (the action), when
it is called:

225
Example
Inside main, call the myMethod() method:

public class Main {

static void myMethod() {

System.out.println("I just got executed!");

public static void main(String[] args) {

myMethod();

// Outputs "I just got executed!"

A method can also be called multiple times:

Example
public class Main {

static void myMethod() {

System.out.println("I just got executed!");

public static void main(String[] args) {

226
 myMethod();

myMethod();

myMethod();

// I just got executed!

// I just got executed!

// I just got executed!

Java Classes and Objects

Java Classes/Objects
227
Java is an object-oriented programming language.

Everything in Java is associated with classes and objects, along with its
attributes and methods. For example: in real life, a car is an object. The car
has attributes, such as weight and color, and methods, such as drive and
brake.

A Class is like an object constructor, or a "blueprint" for creating objects.

Create a Class
To create a class, use the keyword class:

Main.java
Create a class named "Main" with a variable x:

public class Main {

int x = 5;

Create an Object
In Java, an object is created from a class. We have already created the class
named MyClass, so now we can use this to create objects.

To create an object of MyClass, specify the class name, followed by the object
name, and use the keyword new:

Example
Create an object called "myObj" and print the value of x:

public class Main {

int x = 5;

228
 public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj = new Main();

System.out.println(myObj.x);

Multiple Objects
You can create multiple objects of one class:

Example
Create two objects of Main:

public class Main {

int x = 5;

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj1 = new Main(); // Object 1

Main myObj2 = new Main(); // Object 2

System.out.println(myObj1.x);

System.out.println(myObj2.x);

Using Multiple Classes

229
You can also create an object of a class and access it in another class. This is
often used for better organization of classes (one class has all the attributes
and methods, while the other class holds the main() method (code to be
executed)).

Remember that the name of the java file should match the class name. In this
example, we have created two files in the same directory/folder:

 Main.java
 Second.java

Main.java
public class Main {

int x = 5;

Second.java
class Second {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Main myObj = new Main();

System.out.println(myObj.x);

When both files have been compiled:

C:\Users\Your Name>javac Main.java

C:\Users\Your Name>javac Second.java

Run the Second.java file:

C:\Users\Your Name>java Second

And the output will be:

230
Java Encapsulation
The meaning of Encapsulation, is to make sure that "sensitive" data is
hidden from users. To achieve this, you must:

 declare class variables/attributes as private

 provide public get and set methods to access and update the value of
a private variable

Get and Set

You learned from the previous chapter that private variables can only be
accessed within the same class (an outside class has no access to it).
However, it is possible to access them if we provide
public get and set methods.

The get method returns the variable value, and the set method sets the value.

Syntax for both is that they start with either get or set, followed by the name
of the variable, with the first letter in upper case:

Example
public class Person {

private String name; // private = restricted access

// Getter

public String getName() {

return name;

// Setter

public void setName(String newName) {

this.name = newName;

231
Example explained
The get method returns the value of the variable name.

The set method takes a parameter (newName) and assigns it to

the name variable. The this keyword is used to refer to the current object.

However, as the name variable is declared as private, we cannot access it

from outside this class:

Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Person myObj = new Person();

myObj.name = "John"; // error

System.out.println(myObj.name); // error

If the variable was declared as public, we would expect the following output:

John

However, as we try to access a private variable, we get an error:

MyClass.java:4: error: name has private access in Person

myObj.name = "John";
^
MyClass.java:5: error: name has private access in Person
System.out.println(myObj.name);
^
2 errors

Instead, we use the getName() and setName() methods to acccess and update
the variable:

232
Example
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Person myObj = new Person();

myObj.setName("John"); // Set the value of the name variable

to "John"

System.out.println(myObj.getName());

// Outputs "John"

Why Encapsulation?
 Better control of class attributes and methods
 Class attributes can be made read-only (if you only use
the get method), or write-only (if you only use the set method)
 Flexible: the programmer can change one part of the code without
affecting other parts
 Increased security of data

Java Packages
Java Packages & API

233
A package in Java is used to group related classes. Think of it as a folder in a
file directory. We use packages to avoid name conflicts, and to write a
better maintainable code. Packages are divided into two categories:

 Built-in Packages (packages from the Java API)

 User-defined Packages (create your own packages)

Built-in Packages
The Java API is a library of prewritten classes, that are free to use, included in
the Java Development Environment.

The library contains components for managing input, database programming,

and much much more. The complete list can be found at Oracles
website: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/.

The library is divided into packages and classes. Meaning you can either
import a single class (along with its methods and attributes), or a whole
package that contain all the classes that belong to the specified package.

To use a class or a package from the library, you need to use

the import keyword:

Syntax
import package.name.Class; // Import a single class

import package.name.*; // Import the whole package

Import a Class
If you find a class you want to use, for example, the Scanner class, which is
used to get user input, write the following code:

234
Example
import java.util.Scanner;

In the example above, java.util is a package, while Scanner is a class of

the java.util package.

To use the Scanner class, create an object of the class and use any of the
available methods found in the Scanner class documentation. In our example,
we will use the nextLine() method, which is used to read a complete line:

Example
Using the Scanner class to get user input:

import java.util.Scanner;

class MyClass {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Scanner myObj = new Scanner(System.in);

System.out.println("Enter username");

String userName = myObj.nextLine();

System.out.println("Username is: " + userName);

Import a Package
There are many packages to choose from. In the previous example, we used
the Scanner class from the java.util package. This package also contains
date and time facilities, random-number generator and other utility classes.
235
To import a whole package, end the sentence with an asterisk sign ( *). The
following example will import ALL the classes in the java.util package:

Example
import java.util.*;

User-defined Packages
To create your own package, you need to understand that Java uses a file
system directory to store them. Just like folders on your computer:

Example
└── root
└── mypack
└── MyPackageClass.java

To create a package, use the package keyword:

MyPackageClass.java
package mypack;

class MyPackageClass {

public static void main(String[] args) {

System.out.println("This is my package!");

Save the file as MyPackageClass.java, and compile it:

C:\Users\Your Name>javac MyPackageClass.java

Then compile the package:

C:\Users\Your Name>javac -d . MyPackageClass.java

This forces the compiler to create the "mypack" package.

The -d keyword specifies the destination for where to save the class file. You
can use any directory name, like c:/user (windows), or, if you want to keep the
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package within the same directory, you can use the dot sign " .", like in the
example above.

Note: The package name should be written in lower case to avoid conflict
with class names.

When we compiled the package in the example above, a new folder was
created, called "mypack".

To run the MyPackageClass.java file, write the following:

C:\Users\Your Name>java mypack.MyPackageClass

The output will be:

This is my package!

Java Inheritance

Java Inheritance (Subclass and Superclass)

In Java, it is possible to inherit attributes and methods from one class to
another. We group the "inheritance concept" into two categories:

 subclass (child) - the class that inherits from another class

 superclass (parent) - the class being inherited from

To inherit from a class, use the extends keyword.

In the example below, the Car class (subclass) inherits the attributes and
methods from the Vehicle class (superclass):

Example
class Vehicle {

protected String brand = "Ford"; // Vehicle attribute

public void honk() { // Vehicle method

System.out.println("Tuut, tuut!");

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}

class Car extends Vehicle {

private String modelName = "Mustang"; // Car attribute

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Create a myCar object

Car myCar = new Car();

// Call the honk() method (from the Vehicle class) on the

myCar object

myCar.honk();

// Display the value of the brand attribute (from the Vehicle

class) and the value of the modelName from the Car class

System.out.println(myCar.brand + " " + myCar.modelName);

Did you notice the protected modifier in Vehicle?

We set the brand attribute in Vehicle to a protected access modifier. If it was

set to private, the Car class would not be able to access it.

Why And When To Use "Inheritance"?

- It is useful for code reusability: reuse attributes and methods of an existing
class when you create a new class.

The final Keyword

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If you don't want other classes to inherit from a class, use the final keyword:

If you try to access a final class, Java will generate an error:

final class Vehicle {

...

class Car extends Vehicle {

...

The output will be something like this:

Main.java:9: error: cannot inherit from final Vehicle

class Main extends Vehicle {
^
1 error)

Java Polymorphism
Polymorphism means "many forms", and it occurs when we have many
classes that are related to each other by inheritance.

Like we specified in the previous chapter; Inheritance lets us inherit

attributes and methods from another class. Polymorphism uses those
methods to perform different tasks. This allows us to perform a single action
in different ways.

For example, think of a superclass called Animal that has a method

called animalSound(). Subclasses of Animals could be Pigs, Cats, Dogs, Birds -
And they also have their own implementation of an animal sound (the pig
oinks, and the cat meows, etc.):

Example
class Animal {

public void animalSound() {

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 System.out.println("The animal makes a sound");

class Pig extends Animal {

public void animalSound() {

System.out.println("The pig says: wee wee");

class Dog extends Animal {

public void animalSound() {

System.out.println("The dog says: bow wow");

Now we can create Pig and Dog objects and call the animalSound() method on
both of them:

Example
class Animal {

public void animalSound() {

System.out.println("The animal makes a sound");

class Pig extends Animal {

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 public void animalSound() {

System.out.println("The pig says: wee wee");

class Dog extends Animal {

public void animalSound() {

System.out.println("The dog says: bow wow");

class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Animal myAnimal = new Animal(); // Create a Animal object

Animal myPig = new Pig(); // Create a Pig object

Animal myDog = new Dog(); // Create a Dog object

myAnimal.animalSound();

myPig.animalSound();

myDog.animalSound();

Why And When To Use "Inheritance" and "Polymorphism"?

- It is useful for code reusability: reuse attributes and methods of an existing
class when you create a new class.
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Java Abstraction
Abstract Classes and Methods
Data abstraction is the process of hiding certain details and showing only
essential information to the user.
Abstraction can be achieved with either abstract
classes or interfaces (which you will learn more about in the next chapter).

The abstract keyword is a non-access modifier, used for classes and methods:

 Abstract class: is a restricted class that cannot be used to create

objects (to access it, it must be inherited from another class).

 Abstract method: can only be used in an abstract class, and it does

not have a body. The body is provided by the subclass (inherited from).

An abstract class can have both abstract and regular methods:

abstract class Animal {

public abstract void animalSound();

public void sleep() {

System.out.println("Zzz");

From the example above, it is not possible to create an object of the Animal
class:

Animal myObj = new Animal(); // will generate an error

To access the abstract class, it must be inherited from another class.

Example
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// Abstract class

abstract class Animal {

// Abstract method (does not have a body)

public abstract void animalSound();

// Regular method

public void sleep() {

System.out.println("Zzz");

// Subclass (inherit from Animal)

class Pig extends Animal {

public void animalSound() {

// The body of animalSound() is provided here

System.out.println("The pig says: wee wee");

class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Pig myPig = new Pig(); // Create a Pig object

myPig.animalSound();

myPig.sleep();

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Why And When To Use Abstract Classes and Methods?
To achieve security - hide certain details and only show the important details
of an object.

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