CSEN 202

Introduction to Computer Programming

Lecture 6
Classes and Object (part 1)

Dr. Milad Ghantous Spring 2025 GUC

Classes and objects
• Sometimes, we need more than 1 property (value) to represent an
object.
• Unlike a primitive integer variable for example, which only has a
value, a car, for example, might have multiple properties from
different types to represent it such as make, model, year, engine
power, color, and so on…
• Strings, as we said in previous lectures, is actually not a primitive
type, but a complex (object) type since it has a value and methods
such as length() and chatAt(),…
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 Classes versus objects
• In object-oriented programming, a class is a blueprint or a
template that defines the properties and behaviors of an object.

• It is a user-defined data type that encapsulates data and functions

that operate on that data.

• A class is like a blueprint for creating multiple instances of objects

that share the same properties and behaviors.

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Classes versus objects
• An object, on the other hand, is an instance of a class. It is
created from a class and represents a specific instance of that
class, with its own unique data and behavior.

• An object is an entity that contains data and the methods that

operate on that data.

• Objects are created dynamically during program execution and

can interact with each other.

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Summary Class Class

Classes provide
the structure
(mold) for
creating objects,
while objects are
the actual entities
that contain data
and behavior.

Objects Objects

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A class structure public class myClass {

• Classes have 3 main parts: Variables

1. Variable(s)
2. Constructor(s)
Constructors
3. Method(s)

Methods

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Parts of a class
• Variables are used to describe your objects. For a car object,
variables can be be make, model, year. For a Student object,
variables can be name, ID, age, GPA,…

• A Constructor has the same name as the class, looks like a

method, without a return type and is used whenever a new
object is initialized/created.

• Methods are used to either read the variable values of the

object or to change them.
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Example 1: A class Car
• Let’s create a class (a mold) for a generic car.

• Later on, we will instantiate objects of this class (create

instances)

• Note that when you create a class, you are creating a new type
in java that you can use to create instances of this type.

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 public class Car {

Car String make;

make
model
variables
String model; year
int year; Car(ma,mo,y)

public Car(String ma, String mo, int y)

{
make = ma;
model = mo; Constructor
year = y;

}
}

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But we created only the mold, how to
create objects using this mold?
• Inside the main method, we can use our constructor to create
as many objects as we want.

• Syntax: Car c = new Car(make, model, year)

• Look next.

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 public class Car {
String make;
Car String model;
int year;

public Car(String ma, String mo, int y)

{ make = ma;
model = mo;
year = y;
}

public static void main(String[] args) {

Car c1 = new Car("BMW", "3-series", 2020);

Car c2 = new Car("Tesla", "model S", 2022);
}

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You can think about it this way

Enter name: c1
ma bmw
mo 3-series
y 2020

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 Car c1 = new Car("BMW", "3-series", 2020);
Car c2 = new Car("Tesla", "model S", 2022);
Car
In reality, they are represented like this in java

BMW Tesla
3-series Model S
2020 2022

C1 C2

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 The dot operator
• To access variables (and methods) of the object, the dot
operator is used.
Output
Car c1 = new Car("BMW", "3-series", 2020);
Car c2 = new Car("Tesla", "model S", 2022);
System.out.println(c1.make);
System.out.println(c2.model);

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The dot operator
• We can also edit variables using the dot operator

Output
System.out.println(c1.model);
c1.model = "X6";
System.out.println(c1.model);

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Printing an object
Car c1 = new Car("BMW", "3-series", 2020);
Car c2 = new Car("Tesla", "model S", 2022);
System.out.println(c1);
System.out.println(c2);
Output

Unlike what we expected, when you try to print an

object, we get its reference, which is the location in
memory and not the values of its variables.

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 Memory (RAM)
reference Content
Object reference …
BMW
5a07e868 c1 3-series
2020

Car c1 = new Car("BMW", "3-series", 2020); Tesla

v
76ed5528
c2 Model S
Car c2 = new Car("Tesla", "model S", 2022); 2022

v
…
v

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So how to print the object’s info?
• You can just print them using the dot operator, one by one.

• Or you can create a static method that receives the object as a

parameter, and then prints its content using the dot operatos.

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public class Car {

// variables and constructors not shown just for limited slide space.

public static void displayInfo(Car c)

{
System.out.println("Make:"+c.make+", Model:"+c.model+", year:"+c.year);
}

public static void main(String[] args) {

Car c1 = new Car("BMW", "3-series", 2020);

Car c2 = new Car("Tesla", "model S", 2022);
displayInfo(c1);
displayInfo(c2);
} Output
}

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Can we do this?

Output

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 Part 2
String objects and instance methods

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Strings
• In previous lectures, we mentioned that
strings are objects and not a primitive
type.
Output
• So why don’t we use a constructor with
the new keyword when we create them?

• Answer: we can!  but Java wanted our

lives to be easier since String is a built-
in class and not a user defined one.

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String methods
• When we used methods with strings, we used to use the dot
operator to access them.
• Examples: s.chatAt(0), s.length() and so on.
• We didn’t have to send the string as a parameter.
• These are called instance methods and we can create them
for our Car class as well.
• Instance methods do NOT have the static keyword in their
signature.

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Creating instance methods for Car
Instance methods
have access to the
class variables so
we can use them
right away. No
public class Car {
need to pass an
// variables and constructors
object to them.
// not shown just for limited slide space.
Look next.
public void displayInfo()
instance

{
System.out.println("Make:” + make +", Model:” + model +", year:” + year);

public static void displayInfo(Car c){

Static

System.out.println("Make:"+c.make+", Model:"+c.model+", year:"+c.year);

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So how to call instance methods?
public static void main(String[] args) {

Car c1 = new Car("BMW", "3-series", 2020);

Car c2 = new Car("Tesla", "model S", 2022); Output
c1.displayInfo();
c2.displayInfo();
}

Output
Can we do this?
Yes! Java understands
which is which.

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A visual representation of static versus instance methods
Static Instance

make Obj displayInfo(Obj)

model
year
Method make Instance method
belongs to the
model class instance
and can access
• The object is passed as an argument. Method will year its variables right
use dot operator to access its variables and use away. No need to
them. pass anything to
• Also the method is not necessarily created in the it.
same class. It could be created in another class
• Static methods are INDEPENDENT OF CLASS
displayInfo()
INSTANCE!

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 Part 3
This keyword

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This keyword
• You can refer to the class variables by adding this. before them.
• This helps you organize your code, be more readable, and helps
java as well in confusing situations. this refers the class where it’s
written.
• Re-writing our constructor:
public Car(String ma, String mo, int y)
{ this.make = ma;
this.model = mo;
this.year = y;
}
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 Now, we can do this!
public Car(String make, String model, int year)
{
this.make = make;
this.model = model;
this.year = year;
}

Java knows exactly now that this.make is the class make variable, while make
(without this) is the parameter in the arguments list of the constructor.

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 What happens when we do this?
public Car(String make, String model, int year)
{
make = make;
model = model;
year = year;
}

All of them are seen as the parameters of the method, and hence our class
variables are left untouched. This means, that java will assign default
values for them, depending on their type. Look next.
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 Watch what happens
public Car(String make, String model, int year)
{
make = make;
model = model;
year = year;

public static void main(String[] args) {

Car c1 = new Car("BMW", "3-series", 2020);

Output
c1.displayInfo();

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 Part 4
toString() method

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toString() method
• The toString() method is built-in in any object, and when you try
to print an object using system.out.print, the toString() is called.
• But it prints the object reference as shown before.

These two statements are equivalent

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We can override the toString() method
• The programmer can override the toString() method to whatever he/she wants.
• In our example, we will replace displayInfo by toString().

public String toString()

{
return "Make:"+make+", Model:"+model+", year:"+year;
}

Output

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 Part 5
Creating multiple constructors

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Can we create more than 1 constructor?
• Of course! Using overloading.

• You can create multiple versions of the constructor, by either

omitting some arguments and defining a default value for them
for all newly created object, or keep all the arguments and
change their order.

• Java will know which constructor to call, depending on how you

call it.

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Multiple 1

constructors
How to use them?

3
Output

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Note
• If you don’t create any constructor, java uses a default
constructor which takes no parameters: Car()

• You can use it to create new Car objects, which of course, will
have default values.

• But once you create 1 version of a constructor, the default one

Car() cannot be used anymore.

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Example 2: The Point class
• Let’s create a class that represents a cartesian point in 2-D
space.

• We need to define its x and y coordinates

• A constructor (or more)
• Any methods we need (instance or static)

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But before we continue
• You can create several classes
(class files) in one folder: Car,
point and Tester.

• Only one class has to have one a

main method (you can have more).
For example: Tester class here.
Car.java Point.java Tester.java

• All classes can “See” other classes

in the same folder and use them.
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 public class Point
{
Point double x;
double y;
Point.java
public Point(double x, double y)
{
this.x = x;
this.y = y;

}
public String toString(){
return "(" + x + "," + y + ")" ;
}

}
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Tester

public class Tester { Point.java Tester.java

public static void main(String[] args) {

Point p1 = new Point(5,6);

Point p2 = new Point(1.6,2.5);

System.out.println(p1.toString());
Output
System.out.println(p2.toString());
}}

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Task 1
Create a method that translates a point by dx and dy
• Static or instance?
• We can do either!

• Static one: we create it in the tester class and accepts

an object parameter of type point

• Instance one: we create it in the point class and it

doesn’t need any parameter.
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Static way: create it in the Tester class
public class Tester {

public static void translate(Point p, double dx, double dy)

{
p.x += dx;
p.y += dy;
}

public static void main(String[] args) {

Point p1 = new Point(5,6);
Point p2= new Point(1.6,2.5); Output
translate(p1, 0.5, -3);
System.out.println(p1.toString()); (5.5 , 3.0)
}}
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Instance one: only in lecture 
• Where would you create it?
• How would you use it?

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 End of lecture 6

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