Chapter 3

Using Classes and

Objects
Using Classes and Objects
• We can create more interesting programs using
predefined classes and related objects

• Chapter 3 focuses on:

 object creation and object references
 the String class and its methods
 the Java standard class library
 the Random and Math classes
 formatting output
 enumerated types
 wrapper classes
 graphical components and containers
 labels and images

© 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 3-2

Outline
Creating Objects
The String Class
Packages
Formatting Output
Enumerated Types
Wrapper Classes
Components and Containers
Images

© 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 3-3

Creating Objects
• A variable holds either a primitive type or a
reference to an object

• A class name can be used as a type to declare an

object reference variable

String title;

• No object is created with this declaration

• An object reference variable holds the address of

an object

• The object itself must be created separately

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Creating Objects
• Generally, we use the new operator to create an object

title = new String ("Java Software Solutions");

This calls the String constructor, which is

a special method that sets up the object

• Creating an object is called instantiation

• An object is an instance of a particular class

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Invoking Methods
• We've seen that once an object has been
instantiated, we can use the dot operator to invoke
its methods

count = title.length()

• A method may return a value, which can be used

in an assignment or expression

• A method invocation can be thought of as asking

an object to perform a service

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References
• Note that a primitive variable contains the value
itself, but an object variable contains the address
of the object

• An object reference can be thought of as a pointer

to the location of the object

• Rather than dealing with arbitrary addresses, we

often depict a reference graphically

num1 38

name1 "Steve Jobs"

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Assignment Revisited
• The act of assignment takes a copy of a value and
stores it in a variable

• For primitive types:

num1 38
Before:
num2 96

num2 = num1;

num1 38
After:
num2 38

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Reference Assignment
• For object references, assignment copies the
address:

name1 "Steve Jobs"

Before:
name2 "Steve Wozniak"

name2 = name1;

name1 "Steve Jobs"

After:
name2

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Aliases
• Two or more references that refer to the same
object are called aliases of each other

• That creates an interesting situation: one object

can be accessed using multiple reference
variables

• Aliases can be useful, but should be managed

carefully

• Changing an object through one reference

changes it for all of its aliases, because there is
really only one object

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Garbage Collection
• When an object no longer has any valid references
to it, it can no longer be accessed by the program

• The object is useless, and therefore is called

garbage

• Java performs automatic garbage collection

periodically, returning an object's memory to the
system for future use

• In other languages, the programmer is responsible

for performing garbage collection

© 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 3-11

Outline
Creating Objects
The String Class
Packages
Formatting Output
Enumerated Types
Wrapper Classes
Components and Containers
Images

© 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 3-12

The String Class
• Because strings are so common, we don't have to
use the new operator to create a String object

title = "Java Software Solutions";

• This is special syntax that works only for strings

• Each string literal (enclosed in double quotes)

represents a String object

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String Methods
• Once a String object has been created, neither its
value nor its length can be changed

• Thus we say that an object of the String class is

immutable

• However, several methods of the String class

return new String objects that are modified
versions of the original

• See the list of String methods on page 119 and in

Appendix M

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String Indexes
• It is occasionally helpful to refer to a particular
character within a string

• This can be done by specifying the character's

numeric index

• The indexes begin at zero in each string

• In the string "Hello", the character 'H' is at

index 0 and the 'o' is at index 4

• See StringMutation.java (page 120)

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Outline
Creating Objects
The String Class
Packages
Formatting Output
Enumerated Types
Wrapper Classes
Components and Containers
Images

© 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 3-16

Class Libraries
• A class library is a collection of classes that we
can use when developing programs
• The Java standard class library is part of any Java
development environment
• Its classes are not part of the Java language per
se, but we rely on them heavily
• Various classes we've already used (System ,
Scanner, String) are part of the Java standard
class library
• Other class libraries can be obtained through third
party vendors, or you can create them yourself

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Packages
• The classes of the Java standard class library are
organized into packages

• Some of the packages in the standard class library

are:
Package Purpose

java.lang General support

java.applet Creating applets for the web
java.awt Graphics and graphical user interfaces
javax.swing Additional graphics capabilities
java.net Network communication
java.util Utilities
javax.xml.parsers XML document processing

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The import Declaration
• When you want to use a class from a package, you
could use its fully qualified name
java.util.Scanner

• Or you can import the class, and then use just the
class name
import java.util.Scanner;

• To import all classes in a particular package, you

can use the * wildcard character
import java.util.*;

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The import Declaration
• All classes of the java.lang package are
imported automatically into all programs

• It's as if all programs contain the following line:

import java.lang.*;

• That's why we didn't have to import the System or

String classes explicitly in earlier programs

• The Scanner class, on the other hand, is part of

the java.util package, and therefore must be
imported

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The Random Class
• The Random class is part of the java.util
package

• It provides methods that generate pseudorandom

numbers

• A Random object performs complicated

calculations based on a seed value to produce a
stream of seemingly random values

• See RandomNumbers.java (page 126)

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The Math Class
• The Math class is part of the java.lang package

• The Math class contains methods that perform

various mathematical functions

• These include:
 absolute value

 square root

 exponentiation

 trigonometric functions

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The Math Class
• The methods of the Math class are static methods
(also called class methods)

• Static methods can be invoked through the class

name – no object of the Math class is needed
value = Math.cos(90) + Math.sqrt(delta);

• See Quadratic.java (page 129)

• We discuss static methods further in Chapter 6

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Outline
Creating Objects
The String Class
Packages
Formatting Output
Enumerated Types
Wrapper Classes
Components and Containers
Images

© 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 3-24

Formatting Output
• It is often necessary to format values in certain
ways so that they can be presented properly

• The Java standard class library contains classes

that provide formatting capabilities

• The NumberFormat class allows you to format

values as currency or percentages

• The DecimalFormat class allows you to format

values based on a pattern

• Both are part of the java.text package

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Formatting Output
• The NumberFormat class has static methods that
return a formatter object

getCurrencyInstance()

getPercentInstance()

• Each formatter object has a method called format

that returns a string with the specified information
in the appropriate format

• See Purchase.java (page 131)

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Formatting Output
• The DecimalFormat class can be used to format a
floating point value in various ways

• For example, you can specify that the number

should be truncated to three decimal places

• The constructor of the DecimalFormat class

takes a string that represents a pattern for the
formatted number

• See CircleStats.java (page 134)

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Outline
Creating Objects
The String Class
Packages
Formatting Output
Enumerated Types
Wrapper Classes
Components and Containers
Images

© 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 3-28

Enumerated Types
• Java allows you to define an enumerated type,
which can then be used to declare variables

• An enumerated type establishes all possible

values for a variable of that type

• The values are identifiers of your own choosing

• The following declaration creates an enumerated

type called Season
enum Season {winter, spring, summer, fall};

• Any number of values can be listed

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Enumerated Types
• Once a type is defined, a variable of that type can
be declared

Season time;

and it can be assigned a value

time = Season.fall;

• The values are specified through the name of the

type

• Enumerated types are type-safe – you cannot

assign any value other than those listed

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Ordinal Values
• Internally, each value of an enumerated type is
stored as an integer, called its ordinal value

• The first value in an enumerated type has an

ordinal value of zero, the second one, and so on

• However, you cannot assign a numeric value to an

enumerated type, even if it corresponds to a valid
ordinal value

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Enumerated Types
• The declaration of an enumerated type is a special
type of class, and each variable of that type is an
object

• The ordinal method returns the ordinal value of

the object

• The name method returns the name of the identifier

corresponding to the object's value

• See IceCream.java (page 137)

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Outline
Creating Objects
The String Class
Packages
Formatting Output
Enumerated Types
Wrapper Classes
Components and Containers
Images

© 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 3-33

Wrapper Classes
• The java.lang package contains wrapper
classes that correspond to each primitive type:
Primitive Type Wrapper Class
byte Byte
short Short
int Integer
long Long
float Float
double Double
char Character
boolean Boolean
void Void

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Wrapper Classes
• The following declaration creates an Integer
object which represents the integer 40 as an
object

Integer age = new Integer(40);

• An object of a wrapper class can be used in any

situation where a primitive value will not suffice

• For example, some objects serve as containers of

other objects

• Primitive values could not be stored in such

containers, but wrapper objects could be

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Wrapper Classes
• Wrapper classes also contain static methods that
help manage the associated type

• For example, the Integer class contains a

method to convert an integer stored in a String to
an int value:

num = Integer.parseInt(str);
• The wrapper classes often contain useful
constants as well
• For example, the Integer class contains
MIN_VALUE and MAX_VALUE which hold the
smallest and largest int values
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Autoboxing
• Autoboxing is the automatic conversion of a
primitive value to a corresponding wrapper object:

Integer obj;
int num = 42;
obj = num;

• The assignment creates the appropriate Integer

object

• The reverse conversion (called unboxing) also

occurs automatically as needed

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Outline
Creating Objects
The String Class
Packages
Formatting Output
Enumerated Types
Wrapper Classes
Components and Containers
Images

© 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 3-38

Graphical Applications
• Except for the applets seen in Chapter 2, the
example programs we've explored thus far have
been text-based

• They are called command-line applications, which

interact with the user using simple text prompts

• Let's examine some Java applications that have

graphical components

• These components will serve as a foundation to

programs that have true graphical user interfaces
(GUIs)

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GUI Components
• A GUI component is an object that represents a
screen element such as a button or a text field

• GUI-related classes are defined primarily in the

java.awt and the javax.swing packages

• The Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT) was the

original Java GUI package

• The Swing package provides additional and more

versatile components

• Both packages are needed to create a Java GUI-

based program

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GUI Containers
• A GUI container is a component that is used to
hold and organize other components
• A frame is a container that is used to display a
GUI-based Java application
• A frame is displayed as a separate window with a
title bar – it can be repositioned and resized on the
screen as needed
• A panel is a container that cannot be displayed on
its own but is used to organize other components
• A panel must be added to another container to be
displayed

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GUI Containers
• A GUI container can be classified as either
heavyweight or lightweight

• A heavyweight container is one that is managed

by the underlying operating system

• A lightweight container is managed by the Java

program itself

• Occasionally this distinction is important

• A frame is a heavyweight container and a panel is

a lightweight container

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Labels
• A label is a GUI component that displays a line of
text

• Labels are usually used to display information or

identify other components in the interface

• Let's look at a program that organizes two labels

in a panel and displays that panel in a frame

• See Authority.java (page 144)

• This program is not interactive, but the frame can

be repositioned and resized

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Nested Panels
• Containers that contain other components make
up the containment hierarchy of an interface

• This hierarchy can be as intricate as needed to

create the visual effect desired

• The following example nests two panels inside a

third panel – note the effect this has as the frame
is resized

• See NestedPanels.java (page 146)

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Outline
Creating Objects
The String Class
Packages
Formatting Output
Enumerated Types
Wrapper Classes
Components and Containers
Images

© 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 3-45

Images
• Images are often used in a programs with a
graphical interface

• Java can manage images in both JPEG and GIF

formats

• As we've seen, a JLabel object can be used to

display a line of text

• It can also be used to display an image

• That is, a label can be composed of text, and

image, or both at the same time

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Images
• The ImageIcon class is used to represent an
image that is stored in a label

• The position of the text relative to the image can

be set explicitly

• The alignment of the text and image within the

label can be set as well

• See LabelDemo.java (page 149)

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Summary
• Chapter 3 focused on:
 object creation and object references
 the String class and its methods
 the Java standard class library
 the Random and Math classes
 formatting output
 enumerated types
 wrapper classes
 graphical components and containers
 labels and images

© 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 3-48