Topic 27

classes and objects,

state and behavior
"A 'class' is where we teach an 'object' to
behave."
-Rich Pattis

Copyright Pearson Education, 2010Based on slides by Marty Stepp

and Stuart Reges from http://www.buildingjavaprograms.com/
 Object Oriented Programming
 "Object-oriented programming is a method of
programming based on a hierarchy of classes, and
well-defined and cooperating objects. "
 What is a class?
 "A class is a structure that defines the data and the
methods to work on that data. When you write
programs in the Java language, all program data is
wrapped in a class, whether it is a class you write
or a class you use from the Java platform API
libraries."
– a new data type
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 Object Oriented Programming
 In other words break the problem up based
on the things / data types that are part of the
problem
 Not the only way
 One of many different kinds of strategies or
paradigms for software development
– functional, procedural, event driven, data flow,
formal methods, agile or extreme, ...

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 Clicker 1
 What kind of assignment handout
do you prefer?

A.A long assignment handout

B.A short assignment handout

 Why?

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Example - Monopoly

Classes Needed:

If we had to start
from scratch what
classes would we
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need to create?
 A programming problem
 Given a file of cities' (x, y) coordinates,
which begins with the number of cities:
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50 20
90 60
10 72
74 98
5 136
150 91

 Write a program to draw the cities on a

DrawingPanel, then a terrible event occurs
(zombie apocalypse, nuclear meltdown) that
turns all cities red that are within a given radius:
Ground zero x: 100
Ground zero y: 100
Area of effect: 75
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 A solution
Scanner input
= new Scanner(new File("cities.txt"));
int cityCount = input.nextInt();
int[] xCoords = new int[cityCount];
int[] yCoords = new int[cityCount];
for (int i = 0; i < cityCount; i++) {
xCoords[i] = input.nextInt();
yCoords[i] = input.nextInt();
}
...

– parallel arrays: 2+ arrays with related data at same indexes.

• Considered poor style. (Relationship exists in the programmer’s
mind, but not explicit in the program.)
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 Observations
 The data in this problem is a set of points.
 An alternative is to store them as Point objects.
– A Point would store a city's x/y data.

– We could compare distances between Points

to see whether the terrible event affects
a given city.

– Each Point would know how to draw itself.

– The driver program would be shorter

and cleaner.

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 Clients of objects
 client program: A program that uses
objects.
– Example: Zombies is a client of DrawingPanel
and Graphics.
DrawingPanel.java (class)
Zombie.java (client program)
public class DrawingPanel {
public class Zombie {
...
main(String[] args) {
}
new DrawingPanel(...)
new DrawingPanel(...)
...
}
}

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 Classes and objects
 class: A program entity that represents either:
1. A program / module, or
2. A template for a new type of objects.

– The DrawingPanel class is a template for

creating DrawingPanel objects.
– Other classes: String, Random, Scanner, File, …

 object: An entity that combines state and behavior.

– object-oriented programming (OOP): Programs that
perform their behavior as interactions between objects.
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 Blueprint analogy
iPod blueprint
state:
current song
volume
battery life
behavior:
power on/off
change station/song
change volume
choose random song

creates

iPod #1 iPod #2 iPod #3

state: state: state:
song = "1,000,000 Miles" song = "Letting You" song = "Discipline"
volume = 17 volume = 9 volume = 24
battery life = 2.5 hrs battery life = 3.41 hrs battery life = 1.8 hrs
behavior: behavior: behavior:
power on/off power on/off power on/off
change station/song change station/song change station/song
change volume change volume change volume
choose random song choose random song choose random song
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 Abstraction
 abstraction: A distancing between ideas and details.
– We can use objects without knowing how they work.
 abstraction in an iPhone:
– You understand its external behavior (buttons, screen).
– You may not understand its inner details,
and you don't need to if you just want to use it.

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 Our task
 In the following slides, we will implement a
Point class as a way of learning about
defining classes.

– We will define a type of objects named Point.

– Each Point object will contain x/y data called fields.
– Each Point object will contain behavior called methods.
– Client programs will use the Point objects.

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 Point objects (desired)
Point p1 = new Point(5, -2);
Point p2 = new Point(); // origin, (0, 0)
 Data in each Point object:
Field name Description
x the point's x-coordinate
y the point's y-coordinate

 Methods in each Point object:

Method name Description
toString() returns a String representation of this Point
setColor(Color c) Set this Point's color
distance(Point p) how far away the point is from point p
draw(Graphics g) displays the point on a drawing panel
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 Point class as blueprint
Point class
state:
int x, y
behavior:
setLocation(int x, int y)
translate(int dx, int dy)
distance(Point p)
draw(Graphics g)

Point object #1 Point object #2 Point object #3

state: state: state:
x = 5, y = -2 x = -245, y = 1897 x = 18, y = 42
behavior: behavior: behavior:
setLocation(int x, int y) setLocation(int x, int y) setLocation(int x, int y)
translate(int dx, int dy) translate(int dx, int dy) translate(int dx, int dy)
distance(Point p) distance(Point p) distance(Point p)
draw(Graphics g) draw(Graphics g) draw(Graphics g)

– The class (blueprint) will describe how to create objects.

– Each object will contain its own data and methods.
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Clicker 2 What is output by the following code?
Point p1 = new Point();
Point p2 = new Point();
System.out.print(p1 == p2);

A.Syntax error
B.Runtime error
C.false
D.true
E.no output

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Object state:
Fields

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 Point class, version 1
public class Point {
private int x;
private int y;
}
– Save this code into a file named Point.java.

 The above code creates a new type named Point.

– Each Point object contains two pieces of data:
• an int named x, and
• an int named y.

– Point objects do not contain any behavior (yet).

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 Fields
 field: A variable inside an object that is part of its state.
– Each object has its own copy of each field.

 Declaration syntax:
access_modifier type name;

– Example:
public class Student {
// each Student object has a name and
// gpa field (instance variable)
private String name;
private double gpa;
}
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 Accessing fields
 Other classes can access/modify an object's fields.
– depending on the access modifier

– access: variable.field
– modify: variable.field = value;

 Example:
Point p1 = new Point();
Point p2 = new Point();
System.out.println("the x-coord is " + p1.x); // access
p2.y = 13; // modify

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 A class and its client
 Point.java is not, by itself, a runnable
program.
– A class can be used by client programs.
Point.java (class of objects)
PointMain.java (client program) public class Point {
public class PointMain { int x;
main(String args) { int y;
Point p1 = new Point(); }
p1.x = 7;
p1.y = 2;

Point p2 = new Point(); x 7 y 2

p2.x = 4;
p2.y = 3;
...
} x 4 y 3
}
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Object behavior:
Methods

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 Client code redundancy
 Suppose our client program wants to draw
Point objects:
// draw each city
Point p1 = new Point();
p1.x = 15;
p1.y = 37;
g.fillOval(p1.x, p1.y, 3, 3);
g.drawString("(" + p1.x + ", " + p1.y + ")", p1.x, p1.y);

 To draw other points, the same code must be

repeated.
– We can remove this redundancy using a method.
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 Eliminating redundancy, v1
 We can eliminate the redundancy with a static
method:
// Draws the given point on the DrawingPanel.
public static void draw(Point p, Graphics g) {
g.fillOval(p.x, p.y, 3, 3);
g.drawString("(" + p.x + ", " + p.y + ")", p.x, p.y);
}

 main would call the method as follows:

draw(p1, g);

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 Problems with static solution
 We are missing a major benefit of objects: code reuse.
– Every program that draws Points would need a draw method.
 The syntax doesn't match how we're used to using
objects.
draw(p1, g); // static (bad)
 The point of classes is to combine state and behavior.
– The draw behavior is closely related to a Point's data.
– The method belongs inside each Point object.

p1.draw(g); // inside the object (better)

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 Instance methods
 instance method (or object method): Exists inside
each object of a class and gives behavior to each object.
public type name(parameters) {
statements;
}
– same syntax as static methods, but without static keyword

Example:
public void shout() {
System.out.println("HELLO THERE!");
}
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 Instance method example
public class Point {
private int x;
private int y;
// Draws this Point object with the given pen.
public void draw(Graphics g) {
...
}
}
 The draw method no longer has a Point p parameter
 How will the method know which point to draw?
– How will the method access that point's x/y data?

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 Point objects w/ method
 Each Point object has its own copy of the draw method, which
operates on that object's state:

Point p1 = new Point(7, 2);

p1

Point p2 = new Point(4, 3);

p1.draw(g); x 7 y 2
p2.draw(g);
public void draw(Graphics g) {
// this code can see p1's x and y
}

x 4 y 3
p2
public void draw(Graphics g) {
// this code can see p2's x and y
}
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 The implicit parameter
 implicit parameter:
The object on which an instance method is called.
– During the call p1.draw(g);
the object referred to by p1 is the implicit parameter.

– During the call p2.draw(g);

the object referred to by p2 is the implicit parameter.

– The instance method can refer to that object's fields.

• We say that it executes in the context of a particular object.
• draw can refer to the x and y of the object it was called on.
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 Point class, version 2
public class Point {
int x;
int y;
// Changes the location of this Point object.
public void draw(Graphics g) {
g.fillOval(x, y, 3, 3);
g.drawString("(" + x + ", " + y + ")", x, y);
}
}

– Each Point object contains a draw method that

draws that point at its current x/y position.

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 method questions
 Write a method translate that changes a
Point's location by a given dx, dy amount.

 Write a method distanceFromOrigin that

returns the distance between a Point and the
origin, (0, 0).

Use the formula:

x2  x1 2   y2  y1 2
– Modify the Point and client code to use these
methods.
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 Class method answers
public class Point {
int x;
int y;

public void translate(int dx, int dy) {

x = x + dx;
y = y + dy;
}

public double distanceFromOrigin() {

return Math.sqrt(x * x + y * y);
}
}

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