OBJECT PASSING
PRIMITIVE PARAMETERS
Primitive types: boolean, byte, char, short, int, long,
float, double
In Java, all primitives are passed by value. This
means a copy of the value is passed into the
method
Modifying the primitive parameter in the method
does NOT change its value outside the method
OBJECT PARAMETERS
Objects can be passed natively, just like primitives
Class Complex { • Public class ComplexTest {
Private double real; void main()
Private double imag; {
Complex C1 = new
Public Complex() // Default Constructor Complex(11, 2.3);
{ real = 0.0; imag = 0.0; } Complex C2 = new
Complex(9, 2.3);
Public Complex (double r, double im) C1.show();
C2.show();
{ real = r; imag = im; }
Complex C3 = C1.Add(C2);
C3.show();
Public Complex Add (Complex b)
{ }
Double r= this.real + b.real; }
Double i = imag + b.imag;
Complex c_new = new Complex (r,i);
return c_new;
}
Public void Show ()
{
System.out,println( real + imag);
OBJECTS ARE PASSED BY VALUE
It is often misstated that Object parameters are
passed by Reference.
While it is true that the parameter is a reference to
an Object, the reference itself is passed by Value.
1. public class ObjectPass {
2. public int value;
3. public void increment(ObjectPass a){
4. a.value++;
5.
6. }
7. public static void main(String[] args) {
8. ObjectPass p = new ObjectPass();
9. p.value = 5;
10. System.out.println("Before calling: " + p.value);
11. increment(p);
12. System.out.println("After calling: " + p.value);
13. }
14. }
OUTPUT
Before calling: 5
After calling: 6
The point here is that what we pass exactly is
a handle of an object, and in the called
method a new handle created and pointed to
the same object.
Now when more than one handles tied to the
same object, it is known as aliasing.
From the example above you can see that
both p and a refer to the same object
To prove this try to System.out.println(p) and
System.out.println(a) you will see the same
address.
This is the default way Java does when
passing the handle to a called method,
create alias.
When you pass argument just to manipulate
its value and not doing any changes to it,
then you are safe.
BEWARE…..
public void tricky (Point pa, Point pb)
{
Point ptemp = new Point ();
ptemp = pb;
pb= pa;
pa= ptemp;
System.out.println("X: " + pa.x + " Y: " +pa.y);
System.out.println("X: " + + pb.x + " Y: " + pb.y);
}
public static void main(String [] args)
{
Point pnt1 = new Point(1,2);
Point pnt2 = new Point(3,4);
System.out.println("X: " + pnt1.x + " Y: " +pnt1.y);
System.out.println("X: " + pnt2.x + " Y: " +pnt2.y);
System.out.println(" "); tricky(pnt1,pnt2);
System.out.println("X: " + pnt1.x + " Y:" + pnt1.y);
System.out.println("X: " + pnt2.x + " Y: " +pnt2.y);
The method “tricky” is not performing
swapping of object passed by main(), it
swaps the objects in the function “tricky”
THE EQUALS METHOD
When the == operator is used with
reference variables, the memory
address of the objects are compared.
The contents of the objects are not
compared.
All objects have an equals method.
The default operation of the equals
method is to compare memory
addresses of the objects (just like the ==
9-
operator). 16
THE EQUALS METHOD
The Stock class has an equals method.
If we try the following:
Stock stock1 = new Stock("GMX", 55.3);
Stock stock2 = new Stock("GMX", 55.3);
if (stock1 == stock2) // This is a mistake.
System.out.println("The objects are the same.");
else
System.out.println("The objects are not the same.");
only the addresses of the objects are compared.
9-
17
THE EQUALS METHOD
Instead of using the == operator to compare
two Stock objects, we should use the equals
method.
public boolean equals(Stock object2)
{
boolean status;
if(symbol.equals(Object2.symbol) && sharePrice == Object2.sharePrice)
status = true;
else
status = false;
return status;
}
Now, objects can be compared by their
contents rather than by their memory 9-
addresses. 18
METHODS THAT COPY OBJECTS
There are two ways to copy an object.
Youcannot use the assignment operator to
copy reference types
Reference only copy (shallow Copy)
This is simply copying the address of an object into
another reference variable.
Stock stock1 = new Stock("GMX", 55.3);
Stock stock2 = stock1;
Deep copy (correct)
This involves creating a new instance of the class and
copying the values from one object into the new 9-
object. 19
COPY CONSTRUCTORS
A copy constructor accepts an existing object of the same
class and clones it
public Stock(Stock object2)
{
if (object2 == null) //Not a real stock.
{
System.out.println("Fatal Error.");
System.exit(0);
}
this.symbol = object2.symbol;
this.sharePrice = object2.sharePrice;
}
// Create a Stock object
Stock company1 = new Stock("XYZ", 9.62);
//Create company2, a copy of company1
9-
Stock company2 = new Stock(company1);
20
IMPORTANT POINTS
Calling object is always present in the function
If another object is required for the operation of a
method , we need to pass it through the argument.
Class name is a user defined type.
Class references can be used as function argument
Class references can be returned from Functions
Object is a composite entity
Do not apply any arithmetic and logical operation
on object name directly.
